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North Queensland coach Paul Green has sensationally claimed they did not bother to fight back-rower Tariq Sims’ shoulder charge ban because they have no faith in the NRL match review and judiciary process.
Sims’ career with North Queensland is officially over after the Newcastle-bound enforcer accepted a five-week suspension.
Fellow key finals star Anthony Watmough will miss Manly’s elimination final against Canterbury at Allianz Stadium after he entered an early guilty plea for a grade one dangerous throw charge and copped one week.
Cowboys football manager Peter Parr earlier on Tuesday admitted the club questioned the NRL match review’s consistency after it ignored Canterbury giant Tony Williams’ shoulder charge that struck Gold Coast playmaker Aidan Sezer and forced him off the field with concussion last week.
But Green did not mince his words when asked about Sims’ grade three shoulder charge.
“Paul Green says the club has no faith in the match review and judiciary process and that was a reason why we didn’t push on with Tariq,” the Cowboys tweeted after Green’s Tuesday press conference.
The explosive tweet is sure to stoke more conspiracy theories up north after the Cowboys accused the NRL of being “Sydney-centric” last season.
North Queensland have had a strained relationship in the past with the NRL after refereeing howlers marred their ill-fated finals campaigns of the past two seasons.
“We’ve been concerned with consistency with charges before this,” Parr told AAP.
“We’ve got some views on this whole incident and what has occurred with charges over the last few days but we will keep them to ourselves.”
Parr said they opted not to fight Sims’ charge so there were no distractions ahead of Friday night’s semi-final clash against defending premiers the Roosters at Allianz Stadium.
“We contemplated it (fighting) long and hard,” he said.
“We thought in the end given the severity of the charge it would have been difficult to get a not guilty verdict.
“We also thought it would be tying up a lot of time and key people in the football department with a game to play in 72 hours.”
Watmough risked two weeks on the sidelines if he challenged his charge and lost, and the Sea Eagles will now have their fingers crossed that their depleted forward pack can lift to knock out the Bulldogs on Saturday night.
That would allow Test and Origin back-rower Watmough to be back on deck for a preliminary final clash against Penrith.
But if Manly lose, Watmough may have also played his last game for the Sea Eagles amid rumours he may be given a release to join Parramatta.
In other judiciary news, Manly captain Jamie Lyon took the early guilty plea as expected for his part in the lifting tackle on South Sydney fullback Greg Inglis that landed Watmough in hot water.
But Lyon escapes suspension by taking the plea.
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