Article in today's SMH re Matterson incident (copied and pasted ) :
NRL satisfied with no sin bin, but is Kaufusi’s punishment enough?
Adam Pengilly
Ryan Matterson’s condition was improving slowly on Friday after a sickening concussion which is likely to rule him out of Parramatta’s next match, and even had Felise Kaufusi’s teammate Cameron Munster admitting the tackle “didn’t look good”.
Melbourne star Kaufusi is facing three weeks on the sideline - two if he takes the early guilty plea - after being charged with grade two dangerous contact on the head or neck of an opponent during Parramatta’s upset win on Thursday night.
As NRL head of football Graham Annesley said he could understand why referee Ashley Klein didn’t send Kaufusi to the sin bin for an apparent forearm to Matterson’s head as he dropped to the turf, the Eels back-rower was starting to recover on Friday.
Matterson is believed to have little recollection of the tackle and, given his concussion history, it is unlikely Parramatta would seek a written clearance from a doctor for him to play against the Sharks next weekend.
Any player concussed in the NRL this season will be subject to an 11-day stand-down period unless receiving specialist permission to return to the field earlier.
Matterson’s last concussion was in July, when he copped a legal elbow from former teammate Russell Packer. But given he admitted to sleeping up to 16 hours a day while suffering from light and noise sensitivity following a head knock in 2018, the former State of Origin squad member will be treated with caution.
Critics questioned why Kaufusi was not sanctioned on the field, but Annesley said he could understand the decision not to send him to the sin bin despite a prone Matterson lying on the ground for several minutes.
“They had to make a call in the heat of the moment,” Annesley said. “It could have gone either way. I’m OK they didn’t, and I would have been OK if they did. I wouldn’t have been disappointed if he was sin-binned.”
The Storm will have until Monday to lodge a plea on behalf of Kaufusi, who faces missing the grand final rematch against Penrith in round three as well as clashes against the Broncos and Bulldogs.
Asked about the tackle, Munster said: “It doesn’t look good, but I don’t think there was any malice in it. It’s a hard thing to say when someone’s head hits the ground, but there’s a lot of tackles in the game like that. Knowing Felise, he’s not the kind of person who would do that.”
The Matterson was incident was the flashpoint of an enthralling match played in atrocious conditions at Bankwest Stadium, which was broken open by Eels prop Junior Paulo’s second try of the season.
The 27-year-old had scored only three four-pointers in five seasons before 2021 - including none last year - and has already equalled his season-best haul in the first fortnight of the campaign.
Replies
Anneresley is a FAILED politician - need I say more?
Same old, the advantage goes to Storm because the referees are as weak as piss when it comes to sin bin or send off. Matto sits out the rest of the game, Felise plays on. It's horseshit.
Take your pick - Felise's elbow on Matto's jaw or slamming Matto's head into the ground, both were intentional, the guy should get at least 3 weeks.
Should have been 6 weeks or 5 with the early plea.
If the MRC can't get it right then maybe these decisions should be taken out of their hands.
One would have to deduce there was a slight lean of favouritism towards the Storm, but hey, that could not be so, could it?
Ask yourself would the tackle be looked on differently if Matto had been the protagonist and Kaufusi the victim. Hmn!
He should have been binned no doubt about it and saying it was a heat of the moment decision by the ref and he was ok with it is not good enough BUT I am glad kaufusi wasn't binned, if he was it would have left question marks about the quality of our win. We did it without any advantage.
DWZ just got 10 in the bin because he did a high shot on cleary.
The ref said because Cleary was taken from the field and DWZ was put on report he had to go to the bin.
WTF!
Yep - and the ref had no hesitation - Klein again proved his ineptness on Thursday night
Precisely. Injured player goes off and the incident is on report it's an automatic sin bin. AUTOMATIC!!!!!
Annessley doesn't know the rules.
Typical!
Beat me to it!
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