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Cowboys fined over coach comments

16th September, 2014
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The already strained relationship between the NRL and North Queensland has been tested again with the Cowboys copping a $10,000 fine for coach Paul Green claiming they have lost faith in the match review and judiciary process.

Green fuelled another North Queensland conspiracy theory when asked why the club did not defend Tariq Sims’ grade three shoulder charge and instead accept a five-week ban that ended the Newcastle-bound back-rower’s Cowboys career.

“The biggest challenge for this judicial system is consistency,” he said.

“And me as coach and the club have no faith that there is any consistency in what they do … so we felt it was better to move on.”

NRL head of football Todd Greenberg sounded livid with not only Green but also the fact the Cowboys’ official Twitter account repeated the North Queensland coach’s explosive claim.

“The members of the match review committee and judiciary have hundreds of games experience and they do not deserve to have their integrity and credibility questioned,” he said.

“If the club wanted to dispute the charge against Tariq Sims they could have gone through an independent process and put their case.

“Instead, they have elected to attack the credibility of the match review committee and that cannot be tolerated.”

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The Cowboys were fuming after Sims was charged a week after no action was taken on Canterbury giant Tony Williams’ hit that forced a concussed Aidan Sezer of the Gold Coast off the field.

Green also noted that front-rower Jared Waerea-Hargreaves is free to play for the Sydney Roosters against the Cowboys in Friday night’s semi-final after being cleared of a last round high tackle.

“It’s cost us and Tariq. It doesn’t seem to cost anybody else in the competition,” he said.

Green had also criticised the judiciary in May when Blues pivot Josh Reynolds earned a downgrading for a dangerous throw on Maroons and Cowboys veteran Brent Tate in Origin I.

It all added another chapter to the tumultuous history between the NRL and the Cowboys.

North Queensland last season accused the NRL of being “Sydney-centric” after a refereeing howler marred their finals exit for the second straight season.

And in April this year the NRL hierarchy was forced to fly to Townsville on Cowboys boss Peter Jourdain’s request to apologise for another official’s blunder in a round eight loss to Manly and also “to assure disillusioned supporters that the region matters to the league”.

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“We felt there was sufficient evidence to argue (our case) … given what the NRL showed us at the start of the season what constituted a shoulder charge,” Green said of Sims’ charge.

“However, it was a big risk for Tariq (and) it would have been a huge distraction for us.”

It marked Sims’ third suspension of 2014, sidelining him for a total of eight weeks.

Meanwhile, Test backrower Anthony Watmough will miss Manly’s semi-final against Canterbury on Saturday night after an early plea for a grade one dangerous throw.

If Manly lose, Watmough may have played his last game for the club after being linked to Parramatta.

And Manly captain Jamie Lyon escaped suspension with an early guilty plea for his part in a lifting tackle on South Sydney’s Greg Inglis that landed Watmough in trouble.

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