Capable Kane able to hold his head high
“When you are part of a team there comes a time when you lean on each other – this is one of those times,” Parker said.
“It’s affected him to some degree. When your integrity gets questioned ... it is never good.” Asked if Smith should apologise or ‘ clear the air’, Parker said: “I feel in due course Cameron will talk.
“( However) I know there have been attempts by Melbourne to get into contact ( with McKinnon) but it was to no avail.
“But there are no winners in this situation. It is just a terrible, terrible a c c i d e n t . ” Showed a replay of the fateful tackle on the program, McKinnon said it was “f--- ing ridiculous” that Smith was arguing with the referee about being penalised as the injured player was being treated and then carried off the field.
But Parker said yesterday: “I have known Cameron since he was a young boy.
“The person I know humble, good human.
“At no stage when those comments were made would he have known of the severity of the tackle.” Parker felt for Smith who as Australian captain had been the face of rugby league’s reaction to two still raw tragedies.
Smith attended last week’s funeral of ex- Bronco and father of two Ackerman who tragically died after a tackle in a Queensland Cup match.
“I’ve got three young children of my own ... so I couldn’t even imagine what the family’s going through at the moment,” Smith said on Friday.
Smith was also dealing with the death of Walsh who had endeared himself with Melbourne during several factfinding missions to the club.
is a FAR from the “tough night” he endured against Manly, North Queensland centre Kane Linnett has kicked on to be one of the Cowboys’ most influential State of Origin period players.
Linnett couldn’t find a hole to hide in during the last- gasp win over Manly on May 30 after making an uncharacteristic six errors.
He has had only one error in the four games since and stood up as one of North Queensland’s best in a testing State of Origin period.
Playing in front of many friends and family in his home Illawarra region, Linnett ran for more metres than any other Cowboys player this year as he clocked up an impressive 254m from 27 runs in the victory over the Dragons.
Linnett played the second half on Saturday for the injured Antonio Winterstein on the wing and Cowboys assist- ant coach John Cartwright said the 26- year- old was becoming a key player.
“He played out of position and defensively he was very strong,” Cartwright said.
“He’s becoming a really important part of the side.
“I think things like that ( Manly game), they don’t happen all the time.
“Everyone can have a bad day and you just have to put that down to a bad day.”
Linnett’s double made it six tries in five games against his under- 20s club.
Left- edge partner Winterstein said Linnett’s defence shouldn’t be underestimated.
“It was an uncharacteristic game he had against Manly. He dropped a few balls which he doesn’t usually do,” he said.
“But the last few weeks he has been one of our best players and defensively he is strong and he doesn’t look for the easy way and he grinds out a tackle.”