Sea Eagles prop Toafofoa Sipley has copped a four-game ban after he was referred directly to the NRL judiciary for a hip-drop tackle.
Tha Manly forward was sin-binned for the tackle on Mat Feagai in the 52nd minute of Thursday’s clash at Brookvale and the Dragons winger limped from the field and played no further part in his team’s 20-18 win.
Scans revealed he suffered a suffered a fibula fracture and high-grade syndesmosis injury and he may not play again this season.
Sipley pleaded guilty at the judiciary hearing but said he had been dazed after connecting with Feagai’s shoulder.
Judiciary panel members Greg McCallum and Tony Puletua meted out a four-game suspension which took into account the fact that he had entered a guilty plea.
Counsel Patrick Knowles called for the hefty ban in order to serve as a deterrent to other players in an attempt to remove the hip-drop tackle from the game.
“The MRC view this tackle as at the top of the scale of careless dangerous contact,” Knowles said.
“It has become apparent that despite efforts in the past to educate players and change behaviour, the hip-drop tackle remains part of our game, and it shouldn’t remain.
“A message needs to be sent that players need to change the way they affect a tackle because this tackle has such a significant risk of injury that it must be removed from the game.”
Sea Eagles captain Daly Cherry-Evans said post-match Sipley “might have been concussed and then lost his legs” while making the tackle.
“It looks pretty accidental from what I saw,” he said.
“Obviously you can see that they’re trying to take the hip-drop tackle out of the game,” Sipley said after the suspension was handed down.
“I do feel for injuring Mat. I did send out a message to him, but now it’s time to serve the four weeks.”
Manly had their misery compounded during the match with injuries to Nathan Brown (shoulder), Jake Trbojevic (concussion) and Tommy Talau (leg).
The trio will miss the round-eight clash with Penrith.
Referee Peter Gough sends Toafofoa Sipley to the sin bin. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Melbourne Storm star Ryan Papenhuyzen fared better, getting his $1000 fine for a grade one dangerous contact charge on Jake Averillo rapidly overturned.
In an innocuous incident, Papenhuyzen was placed on report after appear to make contact with Averillo’s head, but successfully challenged the financial sanction after claiming he ‘definitely didn’t make contact’.
“I feel like you know when you make contact with someone’s head,” Papenhuyzen told the judiciary via video link.
In slightly bizarre scenes, Papenhuyzen’s ban took just two minutes to be unanimously overturned.
In other judiciary news, Penrith hooker Mitch Kenny has been banned two matches after being charged by the match review committee for dangerous contact on Roosters forward Nat Butcher.
Kenny brought Butcher down in the fourth minute with a hip-drop tackle which damaged his opponent’s knee and he limped off a short time later, which angered Roosters coach Trent Robinson and skipper James Tedesco.
“It was pretty disappointing, nothing was mentioned,” Robinson said. “There’s no confusion. It’s pretty clear.”
“I don’t know if it was looked at by the Bunker or referees, but nothing was said or done,” Tedesco added.
Broncos hooker Billy Walters was hit with a fine of $1000 for a crusher tackle in their loss to the Warriors while Roosters prop Naufahu Whyte received the same punishment for a high shot on Panthers front-rower Lindsay Smith.
Four players were fined from Sunday’s games with Sharks duo Teig Wilton and Cameron McInnes charged with dangerous contact, Knights winger James Schiller and Titans forward Klese Haase making careless high tackles.
Meanwhile, the Storm’s Tui Kamikamica, Bulldogs forward Viliame Kikau and Souths prop Davvy Moale were charged for offences on Good Friday but have escaped bans.
Kikau and Kamikamica were pinged $1800 for careless high tackles, while Moale was fined $1000 for dangerous contact charges.
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