EXPERIENCED Newcastle Knights forward Aidan Guerra believes the NRL has avoided a great injustice by not going ahead with a mooted plan to strip clubs of the competition points they earned in the opening two rounds of the premiership.
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ARL Commission chairman Peter V'landys reacted quickly on Tuesday to extinguish a spot-fire that had the potential to blow up into a raging inferno when he declared the results of the first two rounds would stand no matter the format decided on to re-start the competition this season.
It was reported on Monday the possible stripping of points would be discussed at a meeting on Thursday as an option by the NRL's innovation committee, headed by Wayne Pearce.
The suggestion was that all clubs starting from scratch in any revised draw and format to get the game back up and running was the fairest way forward.
The Adam O'Brien (Batemans Bay) coached Knights, along with five other clubs - Parramatta (coached by Batemans Bay's Brad Arthur), Canberra (featuring Milton-Ulladulla's Jack Murchie), Melbourne, Brisbane and Panthers - stood to lose the most if the plan was implemented after they all won their opening two matches before the premiership was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But after a hostile reaction from clubs and fans, V'landys knocked the idea on the head after talking with Pearce.
"I spoke with Wayne Pearce this morning and we both agreed that it's not going to come under consideration," V'landys told News Corp on Tuesday.
"The commission has not considered it and it won't be considering it."
Guerra admitted the idea of the games being worthless never rang true with him.
"I was of the opinion stripping the points was never in danger and thankfully, sanity prevails," he said.
"Those two games at the start of the season were under the banner of the NRL premiership and while ever it was going to be called that, those four points or the two games were always going to stand true in my opinion.
"I'm glad they did because we worked really hard over the pre-season to get those wins and start our season off right.
"As a club, we did that and I think for anyone to think they could take those wins away, they were kidding themselves."
Knights hooker Jayden Brailey said he would have felt even more gutted if the two wins amounted to nothing given the serious injury he suffered in the Wests Tiger clash in round two.
Brailey bravely played the final 40 minutes of the Tigers game with a ruptured ACL after suffering the knee injury late in the first half.
He had it strapped at half-time and refused to leave the field in the second half even though his knee was "giving way" on him.
His performance earned him the three points in the Dally M Medal count but he now faces up to nine months on the sidelines after surgery.
"They weren't trial games, they were proper NRL premiership games with points at stake so how could they discard them as if they meant nothing," Brailey said.
"We deserve those two wins and not just the players, the club and the fans deserve them so making them count is the right thing to do.
"In the scheme of things, it could be the difference, those two games, in getting into the finals or making the top four - whatever it may be, those two wins are massive for us.
"Me personally, I know I've sacrificed pretty big for it and will have to sit out a long time now and it definitely makes me feel a whole lot better knowing those two wins are going to count."
