NRL head of football Graham Annesley insists there is no crackdown on dangerous contact with kickers as the Melbourne Storm confirmed they would be fighting Harry Grant’s charge which left the representative hooker “shocked”.
The Storm confirmed on Monday that they will be challenging Grant’s fine at the judiciary on Tuesday night, with the Storm star facing a $1500 fine if he’s unsuccessful.
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Grant could have accepted a $1000 fine for the grade one offence that saw him sent to the sin bin for making contact with Cronulla’s Daniel Atkinson as he put up a clearing kick on Saturday night.
I was a bit shocked,” Grant said after the game.
“I had no intention of going in with any intent to hurt ‘Atko’, I just went to put kick pressure on, which is a big part of the game.
“I was going to put kick pressure on and turned away from him to not make contact.
“We can’t lose kick pressure in the game. It’s a big part of the game.”
The decision to charge Grant has been widely panned given the contact appeared to be incidental.
“That was the most pathetic sin binning I’ve ever seen on a rugby league field, it really was,” Phil Rothfield said on NRL 360.
Storm fans have also been up in arms, with Roosters utility Sandon Smith escaping punishment on the field for making contact with Dylan Walker as he kicked the ball.
Walker was hurt in the collision and Smith was slapped with a grade two charge which will see him suspended if he takes the early guilty plea.
The cases come after Rabbitohs halfback Lachlan Ilias suffered a gruesome season-ending leg injury as a result of a dangerous tackle in reserve grade, while Manly’s Josh Aloiai was banned for a game for an incident involving Shaun Johnson.
“I have to be careful because there’s a hearing that will take place, but one thing I can clarify is that there has been no directive given to match officials or the match review committee about any supposed crackdown on incidents like that,” Annesley said.
“That is purely a discretionary matter for referees and the Bunker to use their judgement in determining what action should be taken in any incident of alleged foul play.
“There has been no crackdown.”
Annesley also conceded the Sea Eagles shouldn’t have been awarded a penalty last week against the Dolphins which has resulted in the NRL reminding Bunker officials that sufficient force must be used to overturn decisions.
A Tom Trbojevic error was turned into a penalty by the Bunker after he dropped the ball, but not as a result of Jesse Bromwich, who lightly brushed him across the face with his hand.
“I think it’s pretty clear that the contact is not significant,” Annesley said.
“The Bunker was in this predicament where the challenge was instigated on the basis of high contact. The vision showed that there was high contact, so as a result, the captain’s challenge was upheld.
“By any reasonable assessment of that contact, I don’t believe most people would think that’s sufficient to uphold a decision of high contact.
“What we have done since this incident is that all Bunker officials have been reminded that for a decision like this to be upheld, there has to be some degree of force involved in the tackle.
“This was insignificant and incidental, so as a result, the challenge should not have been upheld.”
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