Mathew Cross and Goulds comments

[Super Cronk]

I didnt see the panthers game but on sunday i saw the replay of the elbow/forearm by Mathew Cross on Wade Mackinnon from the eels. And i gotta say it was a nasty hit....one which i think was un-called for and shouldnt have happened. But everyones favourite Gus Gould said on the footy on sunday that it was a reaction to the force of the tackle and thats what you do when defending yourself....you stick the elbow into the other blokes face.

Never heard of a palm before Gould?

Apprently there is footage of 4 other incidents involving Cross and his technique. I wouldnt be surprised in the judicairy let him off...

what are your thoughts? is Gould living in the past? Will Cross get suspended?if so for how long?

[DeeGan]

Leading with the elbow is not on and not in the laws of the game as allowable in defending yourself. I played the game since I was 4 y.o., I was never encouraged to lead with an elbow when hitting the ball up. I have not seen the incident, I will wait until I see footage on NRL Scoreboard before commenting more.

As I got older and headed in to senior footy, the older forwards would tell you to protect your head with all means necessary - was this the case with Cross? From what I am hearing it wasn't, though even if it was, it still does not make it right nor legal.

Cross is a 'clean skin' and I hearing he will be charged with a grade one striking charge which carries 125pts - given there are no loading issues for him to worry about he won't see time off the field and if he does, it will be one week at the most.

[Titanium_BD1103]

Well this was my game for POTY and I saw the incident.. and to start off I actually thought he was ok..

But then I saw the video replay on Channel 9 and I would be surprised if he gets off, he used the full arm and launched it into the defensive player Mackinnon. I know that everyone has different ways of carrying a ball, but he had his arm like that in a determine effort to do damage, and he did it again off the kickoff after the try...

But I will let others decide their views before commenting anymore... I may just have seen it and over reacted... but that is my view.

[Eel 33]

As a Parra supporter, im p***ed off that my fullback was injured in such a fashion. After looking at all the replays available, there is no reason why he couldn't have tried to palm off McKinnon instead of using the forearm. He should've been at least cited and charged with a striking offence. If there are other examples of Cross using the forearm, Penrith and the NRL need to be involved NOW before he does it again, or worse still, breaks a man's jaw or cheekbone. For once, i think Gould has a bloody good case to argue, and im sure there would be plenty of RL supporters who would agree with him.