Wade Graham will miss State of Origin II, after being handed a one-match ban for a high tackle on Johnathan Thurston at the NRL judiciary.
St George Illawarra back-rower Tyson Frizell will replace him.
The judiciary panel of Bob Lindner, Don McKinnon and Sean Garlick took 12 minutes to deliberate on Wednesday night before handing down its verdict.
Graham had been selected to make his Origin debut in game two in Brisbane next Wednesday as a replacement for the injured Boyd Cordner. He will sit out the clash due to the second-half tackle on Queensland playmaker Thurston in Cronulla’s Monday night win over North Queensland.
St George Illawarra back-rower Tyson Frizell will take Graham’s spot in the Blues’ side for Origin II in his interstate debut.
“Obviously, I am very disappointed I miss out on the game. There’s not really words to describe how disappointing it is,” Graham said.
“But we went in there and put in a good argument. It was a fair case – unfortunately, the decision didn’t go my way tonight.
“It is important for me to move on and head back to Cronulla and, hopefully, have my name in the ring for Origin III.
Giving evidence in the hearing that went for just over an hour, Graham said he couldn’t have prevented himself hitting Thurston in the way he did.
“The contact was avoidable. If I could have avoided it, I would have,” he said.
“I just tried to get up and make a normal tackle, to get low and get my shoulder under the ball. It gets wet late in the game at Cronulla and I tried to force an error.
“But he ducked right in front of me. It was too late to adjust. It was too quick.”
Judiciary prosecutor Peter McGrath argued Graham did not show enough care towards Thurston in making the tackle.
“You have followed him and effectively flung yourself towards him,” he said.
“The tackle was careless; there was unnecessary and forceful contact to the player Thurston.”
Graham’s defence counsel Nick Ghabar argued the tackle “was a grabbing type of motion”.
“Unfortunately, there was contact, but it was of a very low force and it was unavoidable.
“Graham was in the motion of making the tackle, when player Thurston slipped and player Graham had less than a second to react.”
However, McGrath successfully countered: “Of course it was avoidable. It was avoidable with care. It wasn’t an accident.”
Graham will next be available for Cronulla’s round-16 fixture on Saturday week against the Warriors.
craig swanson
Guest
Bugger prefer Frizz was saddling up with the Dragons. We need him badly.
Yeahright
Guest
As a neutral union man and former boxer who watches SOO it sure didn't look like Myles shrugged off anything. If you take off your one eyed glasses Tezza you'll see Myles bit off more than he could chew, got owned and stood there like a stunned mullet with a WTF just happened!!! ...since you like exclamation marks
KillaKanga
Roar Rookie
tezza you seem to have either missed the point or you are unable to comprehend what the point of my comment was, so I'll help you out with a bit of clarification. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the NSW vs QLD war of bullsh*t that abounds during S.O.O. It is solely about the governing body of the NRL selectively and in some cases totally ignoring the rules they are supposed to enforce...btw I thought Graham's tackle was deserving of at least a 1 match suspension. Also what's with the unnecessary use of multiple exclamation marks, is it a deluded belief that it lends more credence to anything you write? If that is the case then it's an epic fail but thanks for the huge laugh.
KillaKanga
Roar Rookie
Goodonya Bluey
Worlds Biggest
Guest
Really feel for Graham, deserves a jumper. The Blues will miss his ball playing. Frizell will do a good job.
MAX
Guest
Q now is, Can St. George beat Storm without Frizell?
tezza
Guest
JT would have just shrugged it off like Nate Myles did when Gallen punched him in the head.Nsw players can`t play or throw a decent punch. If Wade Graham didn`t have carry over points or loading then he wouldn`t be missing this match. He had priors so bad luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ken
Guest
Origin gameplans tend to be quite simple and aggressive. With that in mind I agree that they'll likely get more value out of the hard-running, tackle-breaker Frizell than they will from Graham with his more subtle footwork and ball-playing abilities.
MrJSquishy
Roar Pro
Agreed. I, like nearly everyone that wasn't in his legal team, knew Graham was going to be suspended. How do you defend a careless high tackle charge? Careless basically means accidental. So, what do you do? Say, no I meant it, but, it didn't come off as planned? So, in the end it wasn't that bad? Worth a shot... But, anyway, I was more interested in who was going to replace him. And I definitely think QLD would have been happier trying to control Graham than trying to stop Frizell...it's the other 16 players that QLD aren't worried about though...
G
Guest
I think QLD would have preferred Graham to play over Frizell anyway...
Bluey
Guest
Friggin GOLD! BUWAHAHA
KillaKanga
Roar Rookie
What an absolute freaking joke the NRL has become, we have Nathan Brown intentionally stomping the groin of Agnatius Paasi and the "judiciary" says ..no case to answer... then last weekend Jason Taumalolo punches James Maloney in the head, (right in front of Gerard Sutton) splitting his eyebrow open and the Sharks get penalised...WTF? Wade Graham should have groin stomped and punched Thurston in the head then he would still be playing next Wednesday Well at least the payers now know that they can intentionally stomp groins and land punches to the head of the opposition and no further action will be taken. S.O.O. 2 looks set to be a doozey with the new rule "interpretations" after the NRL green-lighted "Bring Back the Biff"...and threw in the "No case to answer Ball Stomp" as a bonus.