Cronulla forward Dale Finucane has been suspended for two weeks after the NRL judiciary unanimously found his contact with Penrith’s Stephen Crichton to be both dangerous and careless.
Key points:
- Stephen Crichton left the field with concussion immediately after the contact
- Crichton also required plastic surgery on his ear
- Finucane said given the opportunity to attempt the tackle again, he would have done nothing differently
Finucane escaped on-field sanction after replays revealed it was his head rather than arm or shoulder that contacted Crichton, who left the field concussed and in need of plastic surgery to repair his ear after the round 19 clash.
After unsuccessfully fighting his charge, Finucane said suspending him for an accidental head clash had set a precedent.
“I was quite surprised with the outcome, given it was an accidental offence, and given our game hasn’t seen accidental head contact sanctioned before,” he told reporters.
The match review committee charged him with grade-three dangerous contact and suggested a two-match suspension.
On Tuesday night, Finucane risked having his ban increased by pleading his case before the judiciary, made up of former players Dallas Johnson and Bob Lindner, and chaired by Justice Geoffrey Bellew.
He told the panel as Cronulla were down by four points with less than 10 minutes remaining, he rushed out of the line towards Crichton in an attempt to stifle the Panthers’ momentum.
Finucane said given the opportunity to attempt the tackle again, he would have done nothing differently but he had since apologised to Crichton for hurting him.
NRL counsel Patrick Knowles and Nicolaous Ghabar, counsel for Finucane, debated whether Finucane’s rushing out of the line at such pace was dangerous, and whether he was careless in his duty to play the game responsibly.
Ghabar said a head clash had only occurred because Crichton “dipped” and changed his position at the last moment, by which time it was too late for Finucane to adjust his tackle technique.
Knowles argued Finucane was only unable to adjust his tackle technique because he had run out of the line at such pace that he was unable to control his actions and his balance.
He argued Crichton was in a vulnerable position and if he had “dipped”, it was only to brace for impact.
The judiciary deliberated for roughly 25 minutes before determining Crichton’s injury proved Finucane had behaved dangerously, and while he was free to rush out of the line to tackle Crichton his doing so at such pace was nevertheless careless.
AAP
Discussion about this post