Penrith captain Petero Civoniceva deserved to be sent off against the Bulldogs, but he didn’t. Referee Steve Lyons made the correct decision under immense pressure, except he was completely wrong. Confused? So you should be. This is the problem.
In the 70th minute of the Panthers win over the Bulldogs on Monday night Civoniceva belted Gary Warburton into the middle of next week. Warburton knelt on the ANZ Stadium turf afterward trying to work out if he’d been hit by a swinging arm or a semi-trailer.
Civoniceva protested that he was 6 foot 4 inches tall and that had contributed to him hitting Warburton high.
But Petero, that is a problem for you, not those who run at you. I’m sure it was all part of a plea to avoid what he felt was inevitably coming his way. Who could blame him? Their was only 10-minutes to go in the match and the scores were locked at 18-all.
Still, despite all of this, I still believe he shouldn’t have been given his marching orders.
Consistency is something the NRL’s referees hope to deliver, but rarely do. In this case that has been made abundantly clear.
Civoniceva is the only man to have been sent off this season. Was his crime greater than any others we’ve seen this season? Definitely not.
If Civoniceva deserved to be ordered from the field, so did Manly forward Glenn Stewart for elbowing Roosters five-eighth Braith Anasta in the head, on Sunday afternoon.
Stewart was charged with a grade five strike on Anasta and will spend the next four weeks on the sidelines after entering an early guilty plea, yet stayed on the field.
Civoniceva is looking at a two week ban for a grade three reckless high tackle.
I’m not great at maths, but doesn’t it seem strange that a man who’ll miss the next four weeks stayed on the field, while someone who has been offered a two match ban didn’t?
It does to me.
I’ve heard the theory that the referees were under pressure to act tough after being criticised for letting Stewart stay on the field. I don’t subscribe to this theory. Civoniceva wasn’t a scapegoat. He was instead the victim of one of the most frustrating aspects of the NRL, a lack of consistency.
All a fan can ask for is consistency in the decision making process, but we rarely see it.
Civoniceva’s tackle was far from the most damaging we’ve seen this year, yet he’s the first person to be sent off this season.
In some strange way referee Lyons has done Civoniceva a favour.
When the charge sheet dropped into my inbox yesterday, you had to read the fine print.
Civoniceva had been given a 10-point discount for being sent off. It took his suspension, with an early guilty plea, down from a three match ban to two.
That will be vital as Penrith tries to navigate the finals series this year.
The big prop deserves to be suspended for the tackle, despite the strangely held belief that because he’s a good guy (and he genuinely is one of the nicest individuals you will ever meet) he should get off free of charge.
But sent off? Given what we’ve seen so far this season, I don’t think so.
You can follow Luke on twitter @luke_doherty and on Sky News Australia
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