NRL judiciary panel member Darrell Williams last night branded the Melbourne Storm's apology as "half-arsed" and insisted it would not stop him and fellow panel members Royce Ayliffe and Darren Britt from taking legal action against the beaten grand finalists.
Storm coach Craig Bellamy and chief executive Brian Waldron issued a brief media release yesterday to "apologise for any hurt or distress" caused by their scorching comments about the two-match ban that sidelined captain Cam Smith for the decider against Manly.
Last night Storm chairman Rob Moodie said he was confident the "very clear apology" would be enough to head off the legal action.
However, a still-furious Williams was to meet his two fellow panellists this morning to discuss their next move. He told the Herald he was likely to continue with defamation proceedings.
"It does not go close to the requirements of the apology we wanted," Williams said. "There was a timeline for this and we definitely wanted an apology before the grand final.
"We'll be talking with the NRL tomorrow morning and will have a decision by lunchtime. But as far as I'm concerned, I don't think anything's changed and it's most likely we'll continue. We're not doing this for the cash. We want to make sure people understand that I do the job, like the rest of us, with the players' safety the most important thing on our mind.
"We don't need to be linked to bookmakers and have our integrity brought into question. We asked for an apology and it wasn't forthcoming. We were given a pretty half-arsed one instead."
The Storm were fined $50,000 last week for comments Bellamy and Waldron made during a fiery media conference that followed their side's preliminary final victory over the Sharks.
Bellamy appeared to suggest that bookmakers had received information about the likelihood of Smith being suspended, while Waldron attacked the game's leadership.
It is understood the club was measured in their apology yesterday because it did not want to admit guilt fully and thus leave themselves open to further legal action. Moodie said the club was "certainly hopeful" the action would be halted.
"We've said before we took the issue seriously," he said. "Brian and Craig have apologised and in a sense so has the club and we certainly hope we can move on. As far as we see it we've addressed their concerns and gave a very clear statement about the fact that we didn't intend to bring reputations into disrepute."
The panel members had stated they were seeking an apology before Sunday's grand final, which Manly won. Specifically, they had wanted it after the grand final breakfast on Thursday.
In the apology, which the Storm's lawyers sent to the judiciary panellists' lawyers yesterday, Bellamy reiterated that he had told the media he did not intend to question the judiciary's integrity.
"At the post-match press conference on Friday 26 September I made some comments which have been widely reported as criticising the NRL judiciary," his statement said. "On Saturday 27 September I did state to the media that 'at no stage did I intend to question the integrity of the judiciary'. I want to emphasise that statement again today.
"I repeat at no stage did I intend to question the integrity or reputation of the members of the judiciary. I acknowledge that the judiciary members made their decision honestly, based on what they saw as the merits of the case. I apologise for any hurt or distress my comments may have caused."
Waldron said: "Like Craig, it was never my intention, or the club's intention, to question the integrity of the judiciary members. Neither the club nor I intended to cause hurt or distress to any judiciary member.
"I acknowledge that their decision concerning Cameron Smith was made honestly, based on what they saw as the merits of the case … We wish to emphasise that it was never the club's intention to hurt or damage our game, or anyone associated with it. We regret any such perception, if that has occurred."
NRL chief executive David Gallop said there had been some progress on the issue which was "a step in the right direction". "Obviously the judiciary members will need some time to consider their options," he said.
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