Martin Devlin: Of course Billy Slater was going to be cleared

Billy Slater was always getting off. C'mon don't pretend you're surprised.

I don't know why they even bothered having last night's hearing. From the moment he torpedo-ed Feki in Friday night's Preliminary final he was never going to be suspended for the big dance.

And when I say never, that's never ever Never not ever not never ever. His very carefully and cleverly orchestrated PR machine went into its entirely expected overdrive bringing together an admittedly impressive collection of legendary past players, coaches and expert commentators all defending his right to defend his tryline by any means necessary.

And let's just break that down for a second.

His reasoning was simply "I had to stop the try and how else was I going to do that apart from by launching myself at him".

Um. Well, how about by attempting a legitimate tackle for starters Billy?

Two wrongs ordinarily don't make a right but they obviously do when it comes to the NRL judiciary.

So as long as you're trying to stop the opposition scoring then it's ok to commit a foul, to tackle outside the laws of the game because what else can you do?

What kind of excuse is that?

And what does that now say to every other player who in future does the same?

It says, clearly, unequivocally, that this is a fair and reasonable way to act.

Despite the game's lawmakers specifically rewriting the rules to protect the players and remove these no-arm shoulder charges permanently from the game.

The question was never "how am I meant to stop him" but how was I meant to stop him within the laws of the sport.

Because if it's not then why bother ever citing anyone for foul play?

And just because it's his final game and swansong and fairytale finish is irrelevant.

He did the crime. The only thing that's important is making sure he also did the time. So he gets off and as I said no great surprise.

As for the NRL I think the consequence of letting him play will now linger long after finals
Day and just like Billy himself, they've only got themselves to blame.