It was clearly a ridiculous decision.

As Vautin's co-commentator noted at the time: "I think a fundamental of the obstruction rule is you actually have to have been obstructed."

I watched the game. That decision was pretty much indicative of the standard of performance all round.

Fundamentally, the game was certainly the worst I've seen this year.

Thinking about it, I'm sure I must've seen worse somewhere, sometime, but nothing springs readily to mind, certainly not at this level.

It really was dreadful, and I was far from the Lone Ranger in proclaiming this - a worrying low.

But then, it turns out that, perhaps, worrying is pointless.

It's all a lost cause according to Dr Bennet Omalu, the Nigerian-American neuropathologist who first brought to light the long-term damage (chronic traumatic encephalopathy, known as CTE for short) caused by repeated concussions in American footballers.

Omalu has predicted that contact sports will cease to exist within a generation or two.

"The children being born today, with all that we know today, I don't think they will embrace these violent sports the way we did," said Omalu this week.

It's difficult to disagree, and flagging youth participation rates in grass-roots rugby league areas would seem to support Omalu's assertion.

This is particularly so when you factor in the extent to which even these declining current numbers are being bolstered by the inclusion in the figures of non-contact tag and touch formats of the game.

Interestingly, this is all happening against a backdrop of increased participation of women in the contact sports.

Women playing football is, everybody agrees, a fantastic trend, but I do wonder - and I accept we're on tricky ground here - whether they have properly thought it through.

Having farewelled another old friend recently I realised that of our championship '65 Maitland side, 10 members of the team have now passed.

Ten! That fair gives me something to think about.

But, in a conversation the other day, the realisation was somehow made that all of their wives are still with us. All of them!

It's a very visible demonstration of the statistical likelihood of women living longer than men.

I wonder, though, (lightheartedly) whether this margin may be reduced somewhat in the future with increasing numbers of women putting on the boots on the weekend while the men are abandoning the field ...

At Gosford on Sunday the Melbourne Storm clearly demonstrated what a class act they are both on and off the ground.

A mate of mine took his daughter, a youthful Bunnies tragic clad in full Souths regalia (jersey, scarf and hat), to watch the game.

Unfortunately for our young Rabbitohs supporter, Ruby, her side went down, losing to a superior Storm 26-16.

The game was high quality but my mate was more impressed with the post match behaviour of the Storm.

More than half a dozen players, including captain Cameron Smith, came out of the sheds to mingle with fans, signing autographs, posing for selfies and so on. Promoting both the game and their club.

Souths on the other hand weren't quite as impressive: a bit like the game really. Only two players emerged and they were whisked off by an official after barely 15 minutes.

And this was their home game.

It may seem unimportant but you do have to consider that such attention to detail - the looking after the small stuff (and you could argue that this is not such small stuff given the League's current public image troubles) is a major factor in the success of the Storm's organisation, as well as, of course, the team itself.

Ruby had to content herself with this picture of an old-timer she met wandering around who apparently used to play a bit.