Easier to pick on the little guys, huh?
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Canberra Raiders rookie Hudson Young is facing five to seven weeks on the sidelines for an alleged eye gouge on Canterbury Bulldogs forward Aiden Tolman.
There is no doubt an eye gouge warrants a suspension, and this one is worsened by the fact Young has 50 per cent loading on top of the 500 base point charge due to a prior similar offence.
But Brad Fittler was up in arms and Cronulla great Paul Gallen was left stunned by the mere mention of seven weeks on Channel Nine's The Sunday Footy Show.
"Seven weeks, I didn't think he'd get that much to be honest. I thought he'd be charged for it, I thought he might cop a week or two," Gallen said.
"There's no doubt he has attacked the face there, but his knee gets in the way so you can't actually see exactly what he's done."
So without excusing him for any potential eye gouge, you can't see what Young has done. Interesting.
There is no doubt this little-known Raider has drawn the short straw when you compare his charge with that given to North Queensland star Josh McGuire earlier this year.
McGuire escaped a ban and instead copped a $3350 fine because Melbourne's Cameron Munster - his Queensland Maroons teammate - refused to make an official complaint.
The video evidence clearly showed McGuire putting his fingers in Munster's eyes - and the latter even conceded "he did get me". Apparently not enough to warrant at least a one-match ban.
Young has quickly become something of a cult hero for the Raiders thanks to the mongrel he has added to an already star-studded forward pack.
But it seems that isn't enough to see him treated as his high-profile counterparts would be.
Just like the time co-captain Josh Hodgson was threatened with the sin bin and shooed away from a chat between Jarrod Croker and referee Gerard Sutton during a game.
Sutton told Croker only he could be present because he was at the coin toss. Raiders coach Ricky Stuart sought clarification, and as it turns out, there is no such rule.
"I think it comes back to how much profile you've got, who they want to talk to," Stuart said last month.
What do the Raiders have to do to win that same respect? To earn that same treatment from referees and the match review committee?
SUPER STAND OFF
ACT Brumbies coach Dan McKellar has gone so far as to warn "things will be dire" if Australian rugby fails to win back the support of the public.
That's if things weren't dire already.
Australia's Super Rugby franchises have been yearning to play in front of bigger crowds and this week looms as a line in the sand moment.
The conference-leading Brumbies head to the $300 million Western Sydney Stadium for a showdown with their arch-rival NSW Waratahs on Saturday night.
Not so long ago this game would have had punters streaming through the gates - it is the perfect storm. Two Australian rivals fighting for a place in the finals with a host of superstar names on show.
Instead, rugby administrators will likely be a little nervous heading into the clash - because it will come 24 hours after the high-flying Canberra Raiders meet the Wests Tigers at the same venue.
Rugby league's opener at the new Parramatta venue was played in front of a sell-out crowd of 29,047. As for rugby union? Just 10,605.
Rugby folk can take some solace in the fact they were hosting a South African opponent, while the NRL showdown was between two teams that call the stadium home.
If ever there was a week for Super Rugby crowds to get a shot in the arm, this is it. The code is on the cusp of a finals series, while rugby league's attention is focused on the State of Origin series.
And if the fans don't turn up for the Brumbies-Waratahs showdown, Rugby Australia chiefs would find their hands just millimetres away from the panic button.
IT'S A BIG WEEK FOR ...
The new world heavyweight champion, Andy Ruiz Jr.
The underdog stunned British favourite Anthony Joshua with a seventh-round stoppage to capture the WBO, WBA, IBF and IBO heavyweight straps at Madison Square Garden on Sunday (AEST).
The first Mexican American to capture the heavyweight crown's first assignment will likely be a rematch with Joshua later this year.
Joshua will look to avenge the first defeat of his professional career and win back his belts en route to a unification bout with WBC king Deontay Wilder.
But even that fight, should it ever materialise, no longer holds the lustre it did prior to Joshua's bout with Ruiz. Instead, Wilder's rematch with Tyson Fury is now the hottest ticket in boxing.
Let this be a lesson to promoters: let the biggest fights you can make marinate for too long, and you risk letting one of the biggest upsets the sport has seen scupper everything.