The SFT will only be concerned with checking that the various procedural technicalities are in order. As such the decision is extremely unlikely to be overturned.

The ban vindicates Mack Horton, and its length, to all intents and purposes, spells the end of Sun Yang's swimming career. It could perhaps also make you wonder, while pondering notable swimming bannings, did Dawn Fraser really deserve to be banned for 10 years for her bit of shenanigans back in 1964?

Fraser was celebrating a successful Olympics in Tokyo - she had now taken gold in the 100 metres in three consecutive Olympics - when she and a couple of similarly booze-addled hockey players concocted a hare-brained scheme to nick an Olympic flag from the Imperial Palace.

They managed it, somehow, but in the process of making her escape Fraser was apprehended by a local walloper and bundled off to the cop shop. The police, once they'd confirmed Fraser's identity, saw the escapade for the harmless bit of hi-jinks that it was and let her go without charge.

They promised to keep the incident to themselves and even delivered flowers and the flag, for Fraser to keep as a souvenir, to her digs the next morning.

You'd think that would've been the end of it.

Swimming Australia thought otherwise and banned Fraser from competitive swimming for ten years. Ten years! For that?

It was ridiculous, made even more so by the fact that, while banned, Dawn Fraser was made Australian of the Year in 1964. She was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1965 and in 1967 was given an MBE. I doubt Yang will be similarly celebrated.

I reckon you'd be getting pretty healthy odds were you betting on the corporate survival of Todd Greenberg at the moment. He's copping it from all angles, and deservedly so it would appear.

They say, 'you don't have to commit murder to be a crime reporter,' but I think the NRL would do a great deal better if it appointed people to these vitally important administrative roles who have actually played the game at a serious level. We need somebody with a proper 'football brain' to head off these constant short-sighted proposed rule changes that keep cropping up, the latest being this idea of the Captain's Challenge.

As Roy Masters pointed out on the weekend (and Roy is somebody more than qualified to have an opinion on this stuff): What happens when a side scores a try from a scrum and then the opposing captain challenges on the grounds that the ball wasn't fed squarely into the centre of the scrum?

The International Rules of the Game insist on a centre feed, but referees have been ignoring the ubiquitous second row feed for so long now that it has become convention. What should a 'bunker' rule here? Nobody knows. This stuff hasn't been properly thought through.

The other problem, for me, is that these formats further separate rugby league from its grass roots. There'll be no bunkers and captain's challenges in our local games. It makes for a worrying lack of continuity. Whether it be Maitland playing Cessnock or the Knights against whoever, the game, and the rules, should be the same.

Grass Roots: It was the early sixties and Maitland were playing Kurri at Kurri. As I've noted here before - running on against Kurri at Kurri is no place for the faint-hearted ...

Maitland's Barry 'Squeaker' Campbell had come off hurt in reserve grade with a mild concussion. He had showered and, as you did in those days, donned a suit, albeit without a tie. He was watching the tail end of the first-grade match when Kurri, trailing by a couple of points and in what looked like being the final play of the game, made a break.

One of their centres was hurtling towards the Maitland line. Campbell couldn't help himself. He jumped the fence and tackled him. An all-in brawl ensued; Kurri were awarded a penalty try and Barry Campbell spent the night in hospital with what was now a far-from-mild concussion. I'd like to watch a 'Captain's Challenge' deal with that lot.