Penrith legend Greg Alexander has shut down claims he was sent in by the Panthers to fire a premeditated attack on Melbourne ahead of Thursday’s clash between the clubs.
Speaking after Patrick Carrigan’s ugly hip drop tackle on Tigers star Jackson Hastings, Alexander sparked controversy when he claimed the Storm were to blame for the wrestling tactics which have infiltrated the NRL.
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Carrigan’s tackle led to Hastings breaking his leg and the Broncos forward copping a four-match suspension.
Storm legend Cameron Smith and Melbourne boss Matt Tripp have fired back in the bitter stoush with Alexander but the footy great is standing firm.
Journalist Brent Read suggested on NRL 360 on Wednesday night Alexander’s comments were timed to add spice to Thursday’s clash and the upcoming finals series.
“I don’t think the club’s gone to Brandy and said, ‘Hey Brandy, how about you go on radio this week and give it to Melbourne’,” Read said.
“But I’m sure there’s a little something in him in the argument that it’s a good time to bring it up, to raise it and point the finger at Melbourne.”
Alexander replied on Thursday, saying “even (Read) didn’t believe what he was saying, the rest of the panel certainly didn’t tumble into it”.
Alexander shut down suggestions he was launching a media campaign against the Storm on behalf of the Panthers.
“It’s ludicrous to think there was any planning in the comments I made,” Alexander told SEN Breakfast. “We made the comments based on our listeners and what they were saying.
“It was about the Patrick Carrigan hip drop and the no-charge to Nelson Asofa-Solomona.
“That’s how the story came about. I just mentioned a couple of things thinking it wasn’t any great revelation. Cam Smith had his say of him, I had my say.
“End of story, there was no planning and nothing to do with Penrith, it was just me.”
It comes as relations between Alexander and the Storm sour, following Tripp’s stinging public rebuke of the Penrith co-chairman. .
Alexander said he was “surprised” by the initial backlash, adding: “I thought it was just a general consensus that over the last 20 years that all the tackles, the wrestling techniques had come out of Melbourne.
“I might be generalizing or even jumping to a conclusion, but I don’t think I am.
“These tackles over the last 20 years, all the different types of techniques, they appear in the game and it takes the game a little while to catch up to them.”
Smith had labeled Alexander’s comments “really unfair” but Tripp went much further, claiming Alexander has been “a Melbourne Storm detractor for many years, to the extent that when he’s commentating one of our games, most of us down here in Melbourne have to watch it with the volume turned down because he’s so biased and so one-sided and so anti-Melbourne that not only is he embarrassing himself, but he’s embarrassing the broadcasters he represents”.
Tripp added the accusation was “beyond absurd”, then doubled down.
“For the deputy chair of one of our biggest competitors, a week out from having to play them, to make unfounded and stupid comments as he has done, just goes to the arrogance of that club and their perceived status in the game at the moment ,” he told The Ageadding it was “borderline defamatory” and “I can’t believe that his continued witch hunt for us for over 20 years still goes on to this day”.
Alexander hit back at those comments.
“I wasn’t even aware that in Round 22 Penrith were playing Melbourne on Thursday night. I haven’t got enough room in my brain to think about weeks ahead,” Alexander said on Monday.
“I’m a journalist that chases clickbait stories? If there was someone in the game chasing headlines at least, I might fall into that category with a number of others.
“Another claim was that I’ve been singling out and campaigning against the Melbourne Storm for years.
“That’s just garbage, it’s just fanciful and it’s in the fairytale realm that I speak about sometimes, that’s just made up.”
Others have also come to Alexander’s defence.
His SEN co-host Andrew Voss said “Melbourne is the best at it” when it comes to wrestling tactics.
The Daily Telegraph’s Michael Carayannis told NRL 360: “There’s no doubt the Storm have a chip on their shoulder as soon as anyone mentions the word wrestle.”
Braith Anasta added: “You know what I think about Melbourne, I think they only hear the negative.
“We sit here every week and we commentate their games and we praise them every week about the powerhouse they’ve been since they’ve come into the competition.
“The success they’ve had, their continued success year after year after year under Craig Bellamy and their organization and the head honchos has been unbelievable and unrivalled.
“But if anyone criticizes or criticises Melbourne in any way, shape or form it’s Sydney against Melbourne and we’re attacking Melbourne Storm.”
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