Irate Knights fans have called on NRL boss Peter V'landys to remain true to his word and ignore calls by high profile Sydney Roosters powerbroker Nick Politis to scrap the competition points earned by teams in the opening two rounds.
V'landys, the ARL Commission chairman, declared only last week any plan to scrap the points when the competition resumes was "off the table". But that hasn't stopped Politis, whose Roosters side lost their opening two games, from applying pressure publicly to have the issue revisited.
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Politis claimed the premiership will be "meaningless" if the competition is played over a shortened 15 rounds which has been heavily touted in the wake of the coronavirus shutdown.
"If you change the draw, you've got to start again," Politis told News Corp. "If the current points are to stand, we have to play over a full season."
"It becomes meaningless and makes it almost mathematically impossible for the bottom sides to make the top four."
While the Roosters are on zero points, the Knights are one of six clubs, including Parramatta, Canberra, Melbourne, Penrith and Brisbane, to be sitting on six points from two wins.
There are now fears NRL broadcasters, Channel Nine and Fox, could get involved and be influenced into pressuring the NRL and V'landys into back-flipping on the issue.
Knights coach Adam O'Brien reinterated his position on it yesterday and said the majority of NRL coaches share the same opinion as far as keeping the points goes.
"I was under the impression this had already been talked about and resolved by Peter V'landys last week so I'm not sure why it has come back up again,"O'Brien said.
"The coaches actually spoke about it in the first phone hook-up we had about a week and a half ago and while not all were involved, there were eight of us in the meeting.
"We spoke about staying united and really pushing the one conference set-up but it was also unanimous about every team keeping their points from the first two rounds.
"Four of the coaches whose teams won their opening two games - Bellyache [Craig Bellamy], Ricky Stuart, Ivan Cleary and Seibs [Anthony Seibold] - they weren't even on the hook-up that day so that gives you an indication where just about all the coaches sit on it.
"I'm pretty sure I know where all our fans sit on it as well and at the end of the day, our game is for the fans. They stood on the hill in their thousands in the pouring rain for our first game - is the NRL going to give them their money back if it meant nothing?
"Do we get compensation for the fact we lost the Braileys and the Barnetts to long-term injuries in our first two rounds? What about all the suspensions - are they going to be null and void?
"The fans are the big ones. Some of them are keeping skin in the game with season tickets and membership because we are on four points and they are feeling good about it. How many members do the NRL want to lose? LIke I said, we are meant to be a game for the fans."
Not suprisingly, Knights fans took to Twitter in their droves when the Newcastle Herald posed the question about Politis's claims and why V'landys should stick to his word and ensure the points are not scrapped.
Darren from Newy summed up the feelings of most Knights fans when he tweeted: "If the NRL wants to see fans outraged, they'll cancel the points. It would be one of the most unpopular things they have ever done. They're not that stupid so it won't happen."
Paul Henderson believed V'landys won't back-flip: "Strong leadership is about making decisive decisions and sticking to them and I can't see this bloke bowing to pressure on this one."
Another Knights fan Sally-Anne Hurley said: "If we are going off pure logic, the competition was suspended, not cancelled. So it doesn't make sense to erase what has already happened."
And this from Knights member Christoper Owen: "Why we should be listening to a back-to-back premiership team who simply couldn't win two games is beyond me."
Alex Williams offered this view: "We lose one of our spine players for the year and one of our best forwards and it was all for nothing? What advantage is there for us if points are taken?"
Staunch Knights fan Nathan White claimed scrapping the points would be "retroactive tampering and should be completely illegal when sponsors, memberships, player retention etc can all be influenced by premiership chances."
Jack Blyth and Jason Miller both shared similar views. "Resetting the points mean blokes got hurt for nothing." Blyth wrote. And this from Miller: "You can not undo the injuries, suspensions, debuts etc in the first two rounds so how can you justify taking the points away?"
Even Roosters supporter Brad Audet chipped in with: "I love Uncle Nick but that's pretty crook."
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