New St George Illawarra captain Ben Hunt has launched into his captaincy with a staunch defence of teammate Corey Norman over his “harsh” NRL punishment.
As it stands, the former Parramatta and Brisbane playmaker will miss the opening round and was on Saturday fined $20,000 for bringing the game into disrepute following a street brawl earlier this year.
Norman claimed he and former NRL hooker James Segeyaro were blind-sided when a fight broke out after Segeyaro was subjected to racial abuse.
In justifying the punishment, NRL boss Andrew Abdo said “there was a degree of provocation which led to the incident, but as a game we have been very clear that provocation is not an excuse to engage in a street fight”.
The club is yet to…
