I'm feeling a lot of the same anger that others are expressing in this thread, but I'm puzzled about the penalties when I compare them with those handed out to other bad boys.
It sounds like what Flanno and the club did could be described as "giving the finger to the NRL". That has earned an indefinite ban and total fines of $800k.
On the other hand Jack Wighton was convicted of assault; a crime. He got 10 matches and the fine was $30k.
It's no wonder that some players lose their moral compass when the NRL effectively says that some actual crimes arent as big a deal as ignoring its authority.
I'm not challenging the appropriateness of the penalties handed down to Flanno and the Sharks, but the NRL riks making itself look silly (or worse) if it makes a greater issue of its own honour than it does of the physical safety of members of the public.