Contrary Conduct, Careless Contact and Credibility - A Legal Analysis

By now most of you would have seen the above incident and read or heard about the charges laid by the NRL judiciary along with their consequences for the Cowboys and Queensland halfback.

Thurston has until midday on Tuesday to either challenge the charge or plead not guilty or he will miss the next two games.  As important as he is to Cowboys fans, it is the second game that is causing everyone (at least those north of the Tweed) to sit up and take notice.

This article will not scream wild allegations of conspiracy.  Nor will it trawl through the history of judiciary decisions at origin time to find examples of previous incidents of supposedly biased judiciary decisions.  Because ultimately it is flawed analysis to approach this situation using high shots, spear tackles and headbuts as precedents.  Also, as a general rule, accusing a quasi-judicial body of bias and conspiracy before you even have a hearing is generally not the best way to get what you want.


So lets take a deep breath and calmly declare that Thurston SHOULD have nothing to worry about for the reasons set out below.  These are, if you will, the submissions for the defence.