NRL: Warriors under spotlight for Cameron Smith Twitter jab

  • 23/07/2018

The Warriors' social media team under the spotlight, after a controversial tweet during their 12-6 loss to the Melbourne Storm on Sunday.

Midway through the second half, winger Ken Maumalo was tackled high by Storm skipper Cameron Smith, who then interrupted the ensuing play-the-ball, only for the referee Ben Cummins to rule a knock-on.

On their official account, the Warriors lashed out at to the former Queensland and Kangaroos captain’s ability to influence referees' decisions.

"High tackle,", swiftly followed by a second tweet, saying: "Oh wait, it's Cam Smith."

It comes a week after the Hurricanes official account took a swipe at the Chiefs’ Johnny Fa'auli for a red card for a dangerous tackle on Wes Goosen during their Super Rugby regular season finale.

The Hurricanes tweeted immediately after the brutal hit: "What a shocker... player with a bad history of that crap."

Hurricanes CEO Avan Lee also voiced his anger on social media, saying Fa'auli's red was "overdue for that guy", adding he was a "loose cannon".

Both tweets were subsequently deleted, the Hurricanes apologised for the "inappropriate" comments and Fa'auli was later then suspended for six weeks.

NRL: Warriors under spotlight for Cameron Smith Twitter jab

While people saw the funny side of the Warriors' tweet, many people weren’t impressed.

"Saltiest, most unprofessional conduct from an NRL league social media person goes to..." one person said.

Another wrote, "Tweet really just sums the Warriors up as an organisation."

Coach Stephen Kearney was baffled by the Maumalo call and said there are some serious issues with the officiating in the NRL right now.

“I think there is a problem [with the refereeing]," said Kearney.

"Unfortunately, they have been poorly led.

“They get a directive [from the NRL] at the start of the year to blow the pea out of the whistle and 13 rounds in, that changes again.

"It's just about that consistency, and I feel for them at the moment. There are enough smart people in our game to get it sorted, and we need to make sure we do something about it.

"It's a bit of a blight on our game at the minute. Ken's one was a pretty obvious one."

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