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Glenn doubles down on plea for NRL support

Murray Wenzel and Pamela WhaleyAAP
Brisbane captain Alex Glenn is disappointed the NRL won't stand by players who act in self-defence.
Camera IconBrisbane captain Alex Glenn is disappointed the NRL won't stand by players who act in self-defence.

Alex Glenn has doubled down on calls for the NRL to protect players who act in self defence after concerns someone could be hospitalised were labelled as 'scaremongering' by ARLC chair Peter V'landys.

The newly crowned Brisbane captain launched an impassioned defence of former teammate Corey Norman after the St George Illawarra half was slapped with a $20,000 fine and a one-game ban for his role in a street brawl.

Norman is fighting the sanction and paperwork for the appeal has been submitted to the NRL on the grounds he was acting in self defence and was blindsided by a group who racially abused his friend, former player James Segeyaro.

Concerns were raised by players the heavy sanction discourages players from protecting themselves, with the RLPA now looking to speak to the NRL about the severity of punishments.

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"I wouldn't come out and defend a player if he was in the wrong," Glenn told AAP on Friday.

"Everyone knows Corey Norman is one of my good mates and he's done some bad things in the past and he's copped the punishment and so he should have.

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"But I felt this one was very hard done by."

Glenn, a veteran of 14 NRL seasons and a poster boy for good behaviour in the game, voiced fears players could be seriously hurt or hospitalised if they don't defend themselves in unprovoked confrontations with the public.

Chairman V'landys told AAP the players' concerns were scaremongering, saying players can defend themselves but in Norman's case he didn't need to retaliate.

Glenn believes the NRL is fearful of siding with players in these public incidents.

"It's very frustrating. What kind of message are we sending to the public?" he said.

"Our boys weren't in the wrong in that situation but they're getting fined for it.

"I understand their name is put through the media and they're an NRL player but they didn't do anything wrong.

"A lot of people were saying whether I should have commented on it, but I felt the more that we speak up about it it will open people's eyes about it.

"It's not going to help Corey now, but maybe in the future it will help another player."

Glenn said he was frustrated the NRL did not support Norman against the alleged perpetrators of racial abuse, saying they missed an opportunity to unify players.

"The way I see it, if (the NRL) came out and went after the boys that attacked (Norman and Segeyaro) and said they were going to stand with Corey, that would be so powerful across the whole game that every player would think, 'that's unreal, we want to do more for the NRL because they've got our back, they've got our welfare and our mental state at heart, they want to look after us too.'

"But for them to do that?

"We're fighting against each other but we're all working for each other and we should have each other's back.

"They should be supporting us a lot more."

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