Steve Deane: Justice bows to Hayne's superstar status

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Jarryd Hayne should not be playing in Sunday's grand final.

That may be the party pooper statement of the year, but there was no justice in the decision that cleared him to play after he kneed Bryson Goodwin in the head on Friday night as the young winger scored a try in the opening moments of the first preliminary final.

Goodwin was knocked out cold after Hayne dived in rashly with his knees. He eventually got up and played on, but he was clearly out to lunch for the rest of the match. The Bulldogs were effectively denied one of their most potent strike weapons for 75 minutes of a match that ended their season.

Surely Parramatta should suffer at least the same hardship?

Of course, that was never going to happen - suspend the biggest star in the game for the biggest game of the year? As if.

Hayne would have slept soundly enough. Australian league is nothing if not pragmatic. And suspending superstars, however much they deserve it, is just plain not worth the hassle.

The NRL has one of the most robust, detailed and, it has to be said, utterly impenetrable disciplinary frameworks in sport. Riddled with gradings, carry-over points, early-plea discounts and good-behaviour dispensations, it's about as straightforward as nuclear physics.

But when you cut through all the jargon, it's exactly like any other sport. Decisions are made by people. And the three men charged with charging Hayne weren't about to set up themselves for a nasty fall. "Go down in history as the bloke who wrecked the grand final and broke Eels' fans' hearts"?

"Umm, no thanks."

As fate would have it, fouls on players as they score tries is an area the NRL has been at pains to clamp down on this season. The eight-point try has made a comeback, and players have been routinely sent to the dock.

The NRL circulated a list of nine similar offences this year that showed five players had copped suspensions and four had avoided them. Seven players received grade-one charges, two grade twos.

In the most recent similar case, Wests Tigers' forward Bryce Gibbes copped a grade-two charge and a three-week ban for kneeing, a touch ironically, Parramatta fullback Luke Burt in the back as he scored a try.

The clampdown extends only so far. The Nigel No-Names have copped it square between the eyes. But when Jonathan Thurston kicked David Williams in the face during Origin III, Williams was the only one left with a shiner.

Thurston was charged with grade-one dangerous contact with the head/neck, a grading that saw him avoid suspension. Snap.

"There was a view Thurston played at the footy and it was an accident," ARL chief Geoff Carr said at the time. "He didn't mean to make contact with the head. Because there was no intent, Thurston was given a lower-grade charge."

Talk about manna from heaven for a review committee desperate to let Hayne off.

Manly were appalled by the leniency granted to Thurston and planned to lodge an objection.

It's unlikely Canterbury will react the same way. After the game, Goodwin was still so dazed he told a reporter he would defend Hayne, if need be, despite having not yet seen the incident. Turns out there are some good eggs in the NRL after all. Ain't that a kick in the head?