EXCLUSIVE | 'Absolutely insane': Gallen fires up over Kennedy charge
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Paul Gallen is backing up today after a night at Shark Park where he got a big smooch on the lips from Toby Rudolph. G-String, afternoon to you. G'day, Levy. G'day, boys. Yeah, it's been a big week. I've had a long week, actually. It's been plenty going on. Fat week, like financially. It's been a fat week, yeah. It's been not bad at all. Three days straight of...

promoting the game. It's been fantastic. I think you'd do it for nothing. Promoting the game. The game that's given you so much. He's still taking it. Guys, I don't know what we're going to talk about, but some of the decisions that have been made these days are absolutely mind-boggling. Like, in all seriousness. Which one in particular? Hey, did you see Will Kenny being... When I saw it this morning, I thought, is this April? Is this April Fool's?

Can you believe he has been charged for that last night? No, I really can't. It's absolutely insane. Some of the decisions in all areas of the game at the moment are just so questionable. But that one for me, I can't believe it. The penalty try, let's go into that one. The penalty try, that one too on Thursday night, that was ridiculous. I mean, he got to the ball.

I agree. Probably should have been sent to the semi because he did try to win a few of them, but he took three or four steps like that, died for the ball, got two hands to the ball. He's elbowed basically the ground. He dropped the ball. Sorry, mate. But if he had a clean run to that ball, he's going to grab it. How did you get a clean run? Cook, the other bloke. Tell me how did you get a clean run?

The bloke cannot disappear. He can't disappear. Yes, he put his arm out. Yes, he should have been sent to the sin bin. And his leg. But listen, I said that. Put his legs and his arm out. He did. He cut his reaction time down. He ran three or four steps. Dive for the... He got two hands to the ball. He caught the ball with two hands. All right. And then he dropped it. While you're blowing up about sin bins, what did you think of the Api Coruscant sin bin last night? Crazy joke. Thank you. I'm talking about the decisions all around. The decisions...

Decisions all around are so questionable. But in defense of the referees here, and I don't want to sound like a referee suck because I do criticize them from time to time. Which you are. No, no, no. Mate, go back over the last two years and see how much I've attacked the referees before you go on down that path. Give me a point. But what I'm saying is if the referee's standing in front of Will Kennedy who's running back, yes, I understand it. He's got a responsibility not to make contact with the referee. Mate, it's called incidental contact. Yeah, it is.

Deserves a week. Mate, things just happen in this game because it's played at such high speed. He's running eight or nine metres a second. Things just happen, okay? It's incidental contact. What player in the game goes out there on the field and thinks, okay, I'm going to make contact with a referee? Nobody. Exactly right. It's incidental contact. It just happens. But let me say this to you, Gal. If you're driving a motor vehicle and you rear-end another car, it's your responsibility to stop. He's got a responsibility not to make contact with a referee, which is why he's been charged. Totally different, mate.

No, it's not totally different. It is totally different. It's not totally different. You're talking about driving a car on a rugby league field where blokes are zigzagging running eight, nine metres a second. Okay, let me ask you this. It's an incidental contact, Levy. Okay, let me ask you this. He didn't see the bloke in the red jumper in front of him?

No, you know what? Oh, he didn't see him. No, he wouldn't. He didn't see him. Mate, let me tell you. So he's got peripheral vision. He can see what's going on in a rugby league field. There's a great fullback that Will Kennedy is, but he didn't see the referee in front of him. No, no. Well, I challenge... Okay, okay. I challenge the Sharks to take it to the judiciary and he'll get two weeks. You watch. I know he'll get two weeks. That's why they can't fight it. Levi, you don't understand when you're on a football field. You are so in tune with what your job is and what you have to do.

His job in that situation was to back up through the middle of the field. He wasn't worried about, or he wasn't even thinking where the referee was. He wasn't. There's not a single player on the field who worries about where the referee is. What happens if the referee one day steps into a player? But he didn't.

What happens if that happens? But he didn't. Okay, it's also not... He also never re-entered him like a car, like you're trying to say. No, no, no. So if a referee steps in the way of a player, do we suspend the referee? No, there's a big difference because... There's also a big difference between driving a car and on a football field. Are you going to listen to anybody else or are you just going to keep talking? I just love how you can make the comparison between a car and a rugby league field, but I can't make the comparison.

But yours is completely different, Paul. So is it driving a car at a football field? No, because if there's a car in front of you and it's going directly behind you, you run into the car. You're talking about a referee sidestepping and then making contact with a player. It's completely different.

Go and watch that back. The referee tries to get out of the way. Will Kenny steps into him. What are the Sharks going to do? Are they going to cop it or are they going to fight it? I don't think they've got a choice but to cop it. I'm just saying it's absolutely insane that the whole decision to charge him over that. Did you know we used to win the ratings? Hey, good debate. Nothing wrong with that.