Final charge against Tom Starling dismissed

[yurithe1]

In today's SMH column by Danny Weidler:

Tom Starling’s original case from a night out at the Shady Palms in December 5, 2020, appears to be coming to a close with Starling and his brothers set to face court this week. But in a big twist, the bouncer who was at the centre of the initial incident has been charged. Khan Morris has been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm for an incident involving Starling’s father, David, who was left with bruising to his face following his interaction with Morris. Starling has pleaded not guilty to the final charge of hindering police and his legal team is confident he won’t have a case to answer.

[cat]

In today's SMH column by Danny Weidler:

Tom Starling’s original case from a night out at the Shady Palms in December 5, 2020, appears to be coming to a close with Starling and his brothers set to face court this week. But in a big twist, the bouncer who was at the centre of the initial incident has been charged. Khan Morris has been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm for an incident involving Starling’s father, David, who was left with bruising to his face following his interaction with Morris. Starling has pleaded not guilty to the final charge of hindering police and his legal team is confident he won’t have a case to answer.

2 years to the day the interaction occurred, our legal system moves way too slowly especially if he is found not guilty

[Billy Walker]

Some news updates on the court proceedings.

NRL star held in headlock and punched by police, court told





NRL star Tom Starling was held in a chokehold while a police officer punched him in the ribs during a violent affray, a court has been told.

The Canberra Raiders hooker and his brothers have fronted court to fight allegations about their roles in a massive brawl at a Central Coast bar that was broken up by a riot squad and several police officers.

Read more: https://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-s ... d2b80eb15c

[Finchy]

Some news updates on the court proceedings

https://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-s ... d2b80eb15c

So you're saying Starling should be sacked?

[Raider Azz]

In today's SMH column by Danny Weidler:

Tom Starling’s original case from a night out at the Shady Palms in December 5, 2020, appears to be coming to a close with Starling and his brothers set to face court this week. But in a big twist, the bouncer who was at the centre of the initial incident has been charged. Khan Morris has been charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm for an incident involving Starling’s father, David, who was left with bruising to his face following his interaction with Morris. Starling has pleaded not guilty to the final charge of hindering police and his legal team is confident he won’t have a case to answer.

2 years to the day the interaction occurred, our legal system moves way too slowly especially if he is found not guilty

Covid has slowed the courts right down which is part of it. But agree, two years is way too long to have a charge hanging over your head if you are innocent.

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[Raider Azz]

Some news updates on the court proceedings

https://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-s ... d2b80eb15c

So you're saying Starling should be sacked?

interesting reading in that link. My favourite is the part where a police officer is on the record in a court of law admitting he held a man (starling) in a headlock and punched him in the ribs multiple times despite "having no reason to do so", yet he has not been charged with a crime, and is apparently employed with the NSW police.

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[gerg]

Some news updates on the court proceedings

https://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-s ... d2b80eb15c

So you're saying Starling should be sacked?

interesting reading in that link. My favourite is the part where a police officer is on the record in a court of law admitting he held a man (starling) in a headlock and punched him in the ribs multiple times despite "having no reason to do so", yet he has not been charged with a crime, and is apparently employed with the NSW police.

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He probably only admitted to it because it was all filmed, and released in the media.

[BJ]

No wonder the NSW court system takes so long if cases like this are going through the system.

Scuffles like this happen at bars and clubs across Australia every Saturday night. I imagine most of these incidents are ignored unless someone is seriously hurt or injured.

Some pubs I know have multiple fights a night and I’ve never seen media of a single one of these fights ever going in front of a magistrate.

Geez the old Rose and Crown at Weston would have filled the ACT courts for decades if every fight went in front of a magistrate.

[gerg]

No wonder the NSW court system takes so long if cases like this are going through the system.

Scuffles like this happen at bars and clubs across Australia every Saturday night. I imagine most of these incidents are ignored unless someone is seriously hurt or injured.

Some pubs I know have multiple fights a night and I’ve never seen media of a single one of these fights ever going in front of a magistrate.

Geez the old Rose and Crown at Weston would have filled the ACT courts for decades if every fight went in front of a magistrate.

When I was in college I had a mate that lived near the Irish club and we'd go to that amusement centre at coolo just about every Friday night. Every time we left, there would be bodies and blood everywhere outside the R&C.

[Billy Walker]

No wonder the NSW court system takes so long if cases like this are going through the system.

Scuffles like this happen at bars and clubs across Australia every Saturday night. I imagine most of these incidents are ignored unless someone is seriously hurt or injured.

Some pubs I know have multiple fights a night and I’ve never seen media of a single one of these fights ever going in front of a magistrate.

Geez the old Rose and Crown at Weston would have filled the ACT courts for decades if every fight went in front of a magistrate.

When I was in college I had a mate that lived near the Irish club and we'd go to that amusement centre at coolo just about every Friday night. Every time we left, there would be bodies and blood everywhere outside the R&C.

Pffft - the Rose n Crown had nothing on the Henry Gratton!

[yurithe1]

More on what the cops are alleged to have done.

Tom’s Starling brother scared cops were going to kill NRL star, court heard: https://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/nrl-s ... d2b80eb15c

[greeneyed]

‘They’re killing him’: Father’s panic at NRL star being hit by police

NRL star Tom Starling’s father cried out that police “were killing” his son during a massive brawl at a Central Coast bar which involved riot squad officers and several police. On Thursday, the court heard Tom saw his brother Josh being detained by security guards from his vantage point on the venue stage. When he stepped down onto the ground, he said he was “king hit to the head”.

“I come down onto the floor and my head was shoved forward,” he told the court. “I copped maybe three, four uppercuts in a short burst and I was driven backwards.”

Read more: https://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/theyr ... 2e16ed644b

Canberra Raiders hooker Tom Starling ‘knocked unconscious’ in Shady Palms brawl: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newsl ... 3abffe04b1

[Seiffert82]

No wonder the NSW court system takes so long if cases like this are going through the system.

Scuffles like this happen at bars and clubs across Australia every Saturday night. I imagine most of these incidents are ignored unless someone is seriously hurt or injured.

Some pubs I know have multiple fights a night and I’ve never seen media of a single one of these fights ever going in front of a magistrate.

Geez the old Rose and Crown at Weston would have filled the ACT courts for decades if every fight went in front of a magistrate.

When I was in college I had a mate that lived near the Irish club and we'd go to that amusement centre at coolo just about every Friday night. Every time we left, there would be bodies and blood everywhere outside the R&C.

Pffft - the Rose n Crown had nothing on the Henry Gratton!

Haha, the Grattan! That brings back a few memories.

I know there are a number of people out there who go out on a Friday or Saturday night with the express intention of getting into a fight, but the Grattan was next level.

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[-GD-]

Tom Starling sentencing adjourned while Raiders coach Ricky Stuart backs hooker for 'breakout' year

Tom Starling's fight to put legal troubles behind him is set to continue into 2023. On Monday, Starling's sentencing hearing was adjourned until the new year, after he pleaded guilty to an intimidation charge from an incident on the Central Coast in 2021 when he was refused entry to a bar.

"I envisage this will be a breakout year for Tom hopefully being able to put this behind him," Stuart said.

Read more: https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/ ... /?cs=14280

NRL Canberra Raider Tom Starling and brothers Josh and Jackson’s bail dropped

It promises to be a more relaxed Christmas at the Starling household with a magistrate easing an alcohol ban on brothers Tom, Jackson and Josh following two `related’ alleged nightclub incidents.

Canberra Raiders hooker Tom, 24, and his brothers, Jackson, 26, and Josh, 21, were not required to appear when their matters were mentioned briefly at Gosford Local Court on Monday.

Read more: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newsl ... d24a43e674

Stuart backs under-fire dummy-half for ‘breakout year: https://www.zerotackle.com/stuart-backs ... ar-126567/

[greeneyed]

So to make this simple… there are two cases.

One is the Mumbo Jumbos case… where Tom Starling has now pleaded guilty to a charge of intimidation. This relates to an incident with a bouncer at the Terrigal bar. The other charges relating to that incident have been dropped. Sentencing will come in the New Year for that, but the bail conditions were eased today. It can be expected that won’t have severe penalties.

The other is the Shady Palms case, where it is alleged Tom Starling ended up being beaten by NSW police at a Kincumber venue, near Avoca Beach. That case is on going.

[Billy Walker]

I wouldn’t have been disappointed if the alcohol ban remained.

[RedRaider]

I hope Starling does not go to prison to need a 'breakout' year. Curious form of words from Sticky.

[gangrenous]

I wouldn’t have been disappointed if the alcohol ban remained.

If they’ve got any sense they should do their own ban for a while until things cool down. At least outside the home (which I presume was all the initial ban would have covered anyway)

[BJ]

I hope Starling does not go to prison to need a 'breakout' year. Curious form of words from Sticky.

Good call Red.

[Botman]

Starling needs a break out year, he was SHOCKING this year IMO. I mean honestly he shouldnt have played the amount of games and certainly not the amount of minutes he did. Genuinely he hurt the team with his play WAY more than he helped it.

Given the impact he is capable of and question marks in our hooker ranks right now, we need much more from him in 2023.
Critically important year for him in terms of his NRL career... another year like 2022 will see him quickly finding himself out of regular NRL consideration imo

[Seiffert82]

Hopefully it's a learn how to consistently pass the ball year for Starling.

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[BJ]

Hopefully it's a learn how to consistently pass the ball year for Starling.

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Spot on Seif.

You would hope he has drills for left and right passing from dummy half. Short, medium and long passes.

And particularly short pop passes to the chest that aren’t forward.

[dubby]

Starling did not have a great season. We all know that.

I wonder how focussed he was with his off field situation, his role changed with the loss of Hodgson, a rookie 7 to start with....

It still doesn't explain his at times Travis Waddell/Stu Flanagan like passing.

[Billy Walker]

Hopefully it's a learn how to consistently pass the ball year for Starling.

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Spot on Seif.

You would hope he has drills for left and right passing from dummy half. Short, medium and long passes.

And particularly short pop passes to the chest that aren’t forward.

Maybe that’s what caused what the issues at Mumbo Jumbos - he wanted to duck out of the nightclub but he couldn’t get a pass-out?

[rayden83]

Has Starling ever been more than a sugar hit? He can barely pass let alone kick or ball play. Even if he improved in these areas 50% he would still be sub NRL standard.

[Seiffert82]

Hopefully it's a learn how to consistently pass the ball year for Starling.

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Spot on Seif.

You would hope he has drills for left and right passing from dummy half. Short, medium and long passes.

And particularly short pop passes to the chest that aren’t forward.

Yeah, it's a tough skill to nail 100% of the time, but I still don't understand how a full time hooker can get his timing that badly out 5-6 times a game.

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[BadnMean]

It's a gamesense thing as much as a skill thing. Skills are relatively easy to improve- but how and when to apply them are different.

Hodgo had great gamesense, so did Cam smith. It's a bit of an intangible and not as easy to improve- often coaches just hope a player gets it over time (like we hope Schneider can speed up his decision making). Joey Johns speaks about after a few years in FG as a half the game finally "slows down" and you can plan and see things better.

At a certain point, if it hasn't happened for a player it just might never. It's why Josh McCrone wasn't a patch on Cliffy Lyons, Cliffy understood the game at a level Josh couldn't quite process in real time. It's why the team seems to "flow" when Woolford is out there, even though physically he's probably not a patch on Starlings fitness, speed and strength tests.

Starling needs to increase his awareness and feel for the game. I daresay he hits passes in training all the time. I hope it clicks for him in FG.

[Billy Walker]

He’s not a new kid on the block though BnM. It’s been a few years and the game hasn’t slowed for him. How long do you give him to nail his craft? At some point you need to move on and I think that should be sooner rather than later.

[BadnMean]

He’s not a new kid on the block though BnM. It’s been a few years and the game hasn’t slowed for him. How long do you give him to nail his craft? At some point you need to move on and I think that should be sooner rather than later.

I think this year is a big year for him. He'll hopefully benefit from some consistency with halves and the style of the game staying the same 2 years in a row for once.

He needs to either nail down the running, up tempo role like an Api (when to go and how to bring people with you) or improve his roll and timing with the forwards as others have wished for up higher.

If he can't do either then Trev might get an audition late in the year or Woolford may continue to surprise and improve.

It's his last contracted year so the timing is right. If he nails one, he gets a nice new extension on his true value, if not then...
I think he has a players option for 2024 but if he was 3rd in the queue and had interest elsewhere he might not take it.

[Billy Walker]

He’s not a new kid on the block though BnM. It’s been a few years and the game hasn’t slowed for him. How long do you give him to nail his craft? At some point you need to move on and I think that should be sooner rather than later.

I think this year is a big year for him. He'll hopefully benefit from some consistency with halves and the style of the game staying the same 2 years in a row for once.

He needs to either nail down the running, up tempo role like an Api (when to go and how to bring people with you) or improve his roll and timing with the forwards as others have wished for up higher.

If he can't do either then Trev might get an audition late in the year or Woolford may continue to surprise and improve.

It's his last contracted year so the timing is right. If he nails one, he gets a nice new extension on his true value, if not then...
I think he has a players option for 2024 but if he was 3rd in the queue and had interest elsewhere he might not take it.

Sounds like a fair approach to me. I’m also happy to see what Levi might offer in a new set up and hope that we might be surprised

[Seiffert82]

Not sure how Starling goes on the training paddock, but if he's consistently good there it doesn't always translate into a game scenario.

It's not even a fatigue thing. He often comes into a game and throws a few dodgy passes early on, whether it be blatantly forward passes or ones that hit his man anywhere but in the bread basket.

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[Ruben Daley]

I agree to a point about game sense being a factor but I also think Starling lacks some technical ability too.

For a short, quick player, his service is often slow, and the passes that 'miss', i.e. are too high, low, behind the player, usually look bad coming out of the hands. What I mean is it's not a nice sharp pass that doesn't quite go to the best spot because he hasn't read the play well. They're usually ugly throws that look like he hasn't played much football (which he obviously has).

I really hope this is his breakout year but not sure why he hasn't already resolved this key part of his game.

[Botman]

You dont need to be a professional coach to see his passing technique is long winded, and as a result his technique is very inconsistent and sloppy.
I think it is mostly a technical/skill issue.

Hard to imagine how he's gotten this far with that flaw in his game as a hooker and more alarming how he's gotten so far into his career with it being addressed. If i had to guess, coaches have tried and he's just not able to improve it. Which is probably why he's ended up being a run first hooker who makes his bones attacking the space in and around the markers with his foot speed and acceleration.

And that's a fine player to be. You can carve out a good 150 game career as a bench hooker doing that and being a nice change of pace, impact running hooker...but if he's starting and expected to play big minutes, you cant be passing that badly as regularly as he does

[gerg]

Maybe I'm wrong but it looks like Stuart has made up his mind that Starling is a bench hooker here. He was given the reins and failed.

I'm guessing that Starling's previous coaches just accepted his limitations and let him focus on his strengths and set game plans around that. Can't get away with that in the NRL.

I think we'll miss Hodgo more than we realise. Sure he's been injured quite a lot but listening to him being interviewed he has a really great understanding of the game, and also has the ability to articulate it quite well. I'd imagine he was still a major contributor to the club while out injured.

[greeneyed]

Shady Palms security guard Khan Morris pleads not guilty to alleged Starling assault

The security guard at Shady Palms on the night NRL hooker Tom Starling and his brothers Josh and Jackson allegedly clashed with police has pleaded not guilty to assaulting their father. Khan Morris was working at the Avoca Beach restaurant bar on December 5, 2020, when police allege he told the Starling boys’ mother to sit down because of Covid regulations. The charge came about after the officer who took command of the matter in May last year reviewed the CCTV footage.

Read more: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newsl ... a81b0800c6