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The Warriors have rejected a Melbourne Storm accusation of unfairness over a decision not to get involved in helping Storm captain Cameron Smith defend a grapple tackle charge from Monday's National Rugby League (NRL) match.
"Considering events on Monday night, it's a bit rich for the Storm to start complaining about a lack of fairness," Warriors chief executive Wayne Scurrah said.
" Out of respect to the Storm and their position as the defending premiers, we took the view that we should stay away from making any comments about some of the things that happened before and during the national junior competition (NYC) and NRL games on Monday night.
"But if anyone should be accused of a lack of fairness it's Melbourne.
"Their handling of aspects of the event certainly did not appear to be in the interest of either fair play or player welfare," Scurrah said.
" Before both the NYC and NRL games, Melbourne refused to agree to allow 20-minute water breaks and 15-minute halftime breaks in both matches as permitted in extreme conditions within the NRL's operations manual."
Scurrah said the Warriors had been forced to take the matter to the NRL's match manager to have it resolved.
"The conditions were extreme. It was incredibly hot but Melbourne wouldn't support our request to have the special provisions invoked.
"Where was their sense of responsibility to their and our players' welfare?
"We then had the matter of them delaying the start to the game by more than three minutes, leaving our players out on the field waiting in the extreme heat.
"And then our players had to wait more than three minutes again for the Melbourne players to reappear for the second half."
The Storm chose not to defend the charge resulting from a tackle by Smith on Warriors centre Brent Tate.
Melbourne chief executive Brian Waldron said the Warriors' decision not to become involved had "interfered with our ability to defend the charge".
Scurrah said the whole area surrounding grapple tackle charges "is new and difficult".
"Given the emphasis the NRL and all clubs have placed on eradicating the grapple tackle we took the view that in this instance the judicial process should deal with the matter."
Melbourne has since been fined A$10,000 ($11,602) by the NRL for delaying the start to the match and the resumption after halftime.
- NZPA
