Canberra centre Blake Ferguson is set to be sidelined for up to eight weeks and referees Gerard Sutton and Brett Suttor have been dropped from first grade as the shoulder charge rule continues to cause controversy.
Ferguson has a suspected fractured eye socket after copping an apparent shoulder charge from former Kangaroos' hooker Danny Buderus during the Raiders' 28-12 loss to Newcastle on Sunday.
No action was taken by referees Sutton and Suttor and after Canberra officials voiced their disapproval to NRL referees' boss Daniel Anderson the two officials have been sacked.
Canberra coach David Furner took little satisfaction out of the sacking of the referees and said he was shocked that no action was taken on the field.
"It's extremely disappointing that something like that could be so missed," Furner said,
"There's been a lot said about the shoulder charge and player safety and then we lose a player from an incident that was blatantly a shoulder charge and not acted on.
"I know for the two referees it has cost them first grade, but I have lost a player for up to eight weeks."
The shoulder charge was outlawed for season 2013 but there continues to be confusion over what is deemed a shoulder charge.
A week earlier Manly was successful in having an alleged shoulder charge by Richie Fa'aoso on Gold Coast forward Ashley Harrison downgraded.
Fa'aoso still received a week suspension while Harrison returns from a week on the sidelines to take the field for the Titans against the Broncos on Friday night.
In round one Melbourne full-back Billy Slater was charged by the match review committee for his shoulder charge on Cowboys' winger Antonio Winterstein but escaped suspension.
Then in the second week of the competition there was surprise Souths winger Nathan Merritt escaped punishment for an apparent shoulder charge on Cronulla's Matthew Wright.
The Raiders were also fuming on Tuesday that no action was taken when winger Jack Wighton was tackled in the air by Newcastle opponent Akuila Uate. Wighton suffered bone bruising to his wrist but is expected to be cleared to play against the Roosters on Sunday and will move into the centres to replace Ferguson with Edrick Lee coming onto the wing.
Canberra has also dropped veteran utility player Shaun Berrigan for young rake Matt McIlwrick.
Replies
Its good to see DA actually drop a ref for making a huge blunder, hopefully the rest are now on notice!
The amount of times I see shoulder charges go unnoticed is incredible. Ridiculous rule that should be reversed back to the way it was. We've already seen that normal tackles can end in danger as well.