Jordan McLean will serve a seven-game suspension after he was found guilty of a dangerous throw charge on Newcastle's Alex McKinnon that has left him in hospital with a spinal injury.
A clearly distraught McLean was handed the 725-point suspension on Wednesday night, however the judiciary panel comprising of former players Bob Lindner, Mal Cochrane and Chris McKenna wouldn't provide a breakdown of what part the injury to McKinnon played in the suspension.
Given it was referred straight to the judiciary, it's unknown whether McLean was handed a grade one suspension (125 points) with 600 point loading, a grade two suspension (325 points) with a 400 point loading, a grade three suspension (525 points) with a 200 point loading or a grade four suspension (725 points) without loading.
Melbourne chief executive Mark Evans fronted the media following the hearing, and while he threw his full support behind McKinnon, believes the seven-game suspension was over the top, and hinted the club would appeal against the ban that has rubbed McLean out until round 13 against the Roosters.
"The first point we want to make is, along with everyone in rugby league, it's really important that the future and all of our best goes to the young fellow who is still very seriously injured," Evans said.
"That can't be obscured by anything that happens in the disciplinary process. We came here tonight with Jordan feeling that the tackle that led to the terrible accident was really no different to hundreds of tackles you see like that in the NRL every season.
"There's been a due process and a sentence has been handed down. We're going to think of our position as a club over the next few days. As I say, there aren't really any winners in this and there was never going to be. I think it's really important this sport doesn't lose sight of that."
It was arguably the most sensitive and emotional judiciary hearing in the NRL's history, with McLean's defence counsel forced to plead his innocence over a tackle that left McKinnon with a broken neck and a long and arduous battle to walk again.
The 22-year-old McLean, sitting alongside Evans, couldn't watch the evidence as it was presented repeatedly from all eight television angles and in slow motion.
The stunned and silent McLean sat there staring at the desk in front of him, unable to turn his head from that position for the most part of the hearing as the tackle was continuously replayed and dissected.
NRL judiciary counsel Peter Kite said the tackle was worth a grade two to three as a base charge, while the Storm's legal representative Nick Ghabar viewed it as grade one.
Ghabar argued that it wasn't McLean's fault that McKinnon ended up in a dangerous position despite lifting his leg, suggesting McKinnon played a part.
"I do not mean to apportion blame to him for what has happened to him," Ghabar said.
"What I mean to say is he has unfortunately and unwittingly and undoubtedly played a significant part in how this tackle ended up. My ultimate submission will be that this is a tragic accident, and whatever Alex did in this tackle he did as part of a tragic accident. That's purely what it was.
"Although there was a lift at the start of the tackle, that lift on itself doesn't place Alex into a dangerous position. If Alex had kept his head in the same position, there's no way he could have got his head in a dangerous position if he'd kept his head in the same position [as he was at the highest point of the tackle]."
McLean wasn't the only person in the tackle, with Ghabar also arguing that brothers Kenny and Jesse Bromwich also contributed to the dangerous position McKinnon ended up in.
"They were applying weight and pressure in a downward direction on the back of Alex McKinnon," Ghabar said.
It took the three-man panel just 10 minutes to find McLean guilty, while deliberation of the grading took a lot longer, with Lindner, Cochrane and McKenna, who were also given a medical report of McKinnon's condition, taking 30 minutes to reach their decision.
McLean was placed on report for the tackle at AAMI Park but was referred straight to the judiciary given the sensitivity surrounding the tackle.
He was originally stood down from the Storm's next game until his hearing, which had also been postponed out of respect for McKinnon and his family.
However, the NRL granted the forward an exemption to play in last Saturday night's game against the Bulldogs in Perth, with Melbourne seeking leave directly from the NRL judiciary chairman, adamant it was the best thing for McLean's wellbeing.
McKinnon fractured his C4 and C5 vertebrae, and is now conscious after being placed in an induced coma for a week following surgery at Melbourne's Alfred Hospital.
IMHO this kid has been hung out to dry by the NRL. He did not deserve 7 weeks. I believe the judiciary has got this one horribly wrong. I've seen worse tackles, real spear tackles, given less than that. It is my opinion that the judiciary have made an emotional call and based the ban on McKinnon's injury rather than the tackle itself. How McLean is purely lumped with the penalty when there were two other players involved is beyond me.
Replies
Shows how ridiculous the judicial system is
They say the judiciary isn't influenced by emotion but this clearly demonstrates that it is.
You are absolutely right that there are worse tackles on a regular basis, the judiciary are results driven and not impartial in the slightest.
A real court of law values precedence and the judiciary has zero value for it.
Guys, the other two guys not being suspended proves that it was a fair hearing, if all the emotion effected it like you guys say, they would have been suspended too, but they did nothing wrong, so it was fair they didnt.
Mclean put his hands between a guys legs and lifted, with catostrophic effects, 7 weeks is nothing, the other blokes got a lifetime to think about it, in this case theres no difference between 1 week and 7, its still being found guilty.
I really feeling for mclean, theres no winners, many lives have been changed forever after this, but i do think mclean is part responsible for the tackle, he was the driving force.
The length of the suspension means noithing, 1 week or 7 makes no difference to the finding he was partly to blame.
I hear you super, but the point is that if he never put his hand between his legs and lifted we would not be here talking about it, Mclean was the driving force, he put his hand between a players legs and lifted, it put Alex off balance and Alex made the split second decision to tuck his head, but he would not have had to make that decision if Mclean didnt tackle him like he did.
Im feeling very sorry for mclean, i dont think it was all his fault but he contributed directly to what happened.
The poor kid will now have to live with this for the rest of his life, it has the potential to wreck his life too, im feeling for him greatly.
so give 7 weeks every time someone puts the hand between the legs....people will say that's too over the top, and that is all we are saying really
Way too long a sentence. Obviously the injury has had something to do with the length of the sentence which is wrong. He should of got 1- 2weeks. Injury is quite often taken into consideration look recently when Kade Snowden was given I think 7 weeks also (for something that you would get away with no suspension for an early plea) when Ray Thompson's head collided with Snowden's shoulder, Snowden was basically just standing still and Thompson's head hit his shoulder which resulted in a broken jaw.
The injury should only be taken into consideration if the act was intentional. Eg. when Boyd broke Darryl Brohman's jaw.
Pretty sure Steve Kearney wasn't even given a long sentence when he ended McCracken's career.
To add to this they showed graphs at the hearing that showed Ales clearly being lifted above the horizontal, his legs were above the horizontal mark, not by a lot, but they were.
No one disputes that he was above the horizontal. The issue is, was the tackle worth seven weeks? IMHO no, there was no malice, no intent to cause him. Issuing a player a Grade 7 is virtually saying that he intended to break McKinnon's neck which simply isn't true.
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