'You've officially lost it': Paul Gallen in fiery clash with radio host
Rugby League great Paul Gallen has hit out over one of the most talked about incidents in round two of the NRL, during a fiery radio segment on WWOS radio.
Gallen and host Mark Levy were discussing a contentious tackle from Cronulla's Teig Wilton on Parramatta playmaker Mitch Moses, that earned the Sharks player a one-game ban and sparked plenty of debate in the league community.
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Moses' uncle, former NRL player Ben Elias told The Daily Telegraph the Eels half was a 'targeted man' and predicted it would take a spate of serious injuries for the league to enact common sense change.
“Those atrocities aren’t in the laws of rugby league,” Elias said.
“It’s obvious he’s getting all this extra attention, like the great players do.
"Mitchell isn’t a whinger, he’s far from a whinger, but you have to abide by the rules and protect those star players.”
Even Cronulla coach Craig Fitzgibbon conceded Wilton "got his timing wrong" after accepting that his player was at fault.
Debating the incident on 2GB's Wide World of Sports radio, things got heated between Gallen and Levy when the former denied it was a sin-binning offence, as some had suggested.
When Levy put it to Gallen that he saw nothing wrong with the tackle, the Sharks legend hit back in what proved to be an explosive back-and-forth.
"No, that's not at all what I said," Gallen insisted.
"The Big Marn (Darryl Brohman) was saying he should get sent to the sin bin [in commentary].
"I said, 'Big Marn, are you kidding? How do you get sent to the sin bin for that?'
"He made contact. It's a penalty, yes. Mitchell Moses jumps in the air and contributes to it. At no point in time was he ever in a dangerous position.
"I was actually surprised he got charged at all.
"This is the thing, and I made the point on Saturday [in commentary], we're going over the top to try and protect these so-called ball players. It wasn't late. He didn't dive at his legs... at no point was he in a dangerous position.
"It wasn't a sin-binning offence at all. It was a penalty for Teig Wilton. Fair enough a low-grade charge, but to miss a week for that, I find that very harsh."
Gallen's take clearly left Levy baffled, with the radio host responding: "You've officially lost it, it's only round three."
The 2016 premiership winner argued that the contact on Moses was part-and-parcel of the sport and that the incident had been blown well out of proportion.
"I'm telling you, it's rugby league, it's a contact sport. Things happen," Gallen said.
"You cannot say we can't touch these ball players. You can't do that, that's what we're trying to do."
Wilton's ban adds to Cronulla's back-row challenges, with Wade Graham still out with an ankle injury.
The Sharks take on local rivals the St George-Illawarra Dragons at Wollongong's WIN Stadium on Thursday night.
with AAP
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