Round 25: Manly Warringah Sea Eagles vs Melbourne Storm

[Steelers]

im sorry but if your watching any game of footy and your mate your brother your uncle or what gets in a fight your ganna run in

And then you have the face the consequences which I feel Brett Stewart now has to do.

[DIEHARD]

All 34 NRL players to face the music after mass brawl between Sea Eagles and Storm

ALL 34 players from Friday night's spiteful Sea Eagles-Storm game are under video scrutiny as the NRL prepares to suspend star players for the remainder of the season and hand down club fines of up to $100,000 for bringing the game into disrepute.

In an unprecedented crackdown on thuggery after the most spectacular rugby league brawl in decades, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal:

* Test stars Glenn Stewart and Adam Blair could be rubbed out until after the grand final;

* At least six other players, including Manly fullback Brett Stewart, face suspensions of up to four weeks for running 30m to join a sideline fight after two players had been sin-binned;

* Players who entered the field of play from the interchange bench face bans;

* And clubs are facing massive fines for operational breaches and for what NRL boss David Gallop yesterday described as "very serious and unacceptable behaviour".

The build-up to the game had been as intense and emotional as any in recent years, with Gallop attending his first Manly game since his bitter row with the club over the Brett Stewart sexual assault charges, of which he was acquitted.

It was also Gallop's first appearance at a Storm game since stripping them of two premierships for salary-cap rorting last year.

And it spilt over on to the field as the two premiership heavyweights threw everything at each other.

As officials began the inquest yesterday, it was alleged the sideline punch-up between Glenn Stewart and Blair had erupted when the Storm forward stopped beside the Manly lock as they were leaving the field and declared: "Let's get it on".

Blair then pushed Stewart, who retaliated with a swinging right arm. Then it was on. While administrators are determined to take a tough stance, not all fans were offended by the brawl.

In a Sunday Telegraph website poll yesterday, 75 per cent of fans said they enjoyed it.

On Twitter during the game and again on talkback radio yesterday, supporters declared: "How good was that." Thousands watched replay after replay on YouTube.

But Gallop, his match review committee and the NRL judiciary panel will take a much dimmer view of it.

"What happened was very serious and unacceptable," Gallop said. "There's a multi-layer of issues, from the players fighting to potential breaches of operational rules, where people have entered the field of play, then you look at the accountability of the clubs for the complete lack of discipline displayed.

"There is a range of stakeholders we need to be thinking about. Mums and Dads, kids that love the game and are inspired by the game. We've got to think about our commercial partners. Big companies who pay to have an association with our brand are not going to be happy about this sort of thing.

"That's why we've got to act to protect the image of the game. All all the people who want to say they enjoyed it and that it's great stuff ... they're wrong. It's not what our game is about."

Even NSW Minister for sport and former NRL official Graham Annesley was disgusted by the scenes.

"The brawling was a throwback to the dark ages of rugby league from decades past and does nothing for the modern image of the game," Annesley said. "It sets a very bad example for young players who look up to these guys as heroes."

John Grant, the chairman of the NRL's new independent commission, told The Sunday Telegraph: "I don't think it creates the impression we want to leave on the game.A couple of people today would be feeling very poorly of themselves."

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au