South Sydney captain Sam Burgess is free to take on Melbourne in Sunday’s blockbuster in Gosford after escaping suspension at the NRL judiciary.
Burgess was facing the eighth ban of his Australian career after being charged with a grade two high tackle on Cronulla fullback Matt Moylan last Saturday night.
But the English international was instead fined $1900 after a three-man panel reduced his offence to a grade one misdemeanour after hearing more than an hour of legal debate on Tuesday night.
“We thought we had a case prior to coming here. That’s why we came and (we’re) thankful we got a fair hearing,” Burgess said.
“I think the evidence showed that. We’re looking for consistency and we got that and I’m looking forward to the weekend. It should be a great game up at the Central Coast.”
Burgess was just four minutes into his comeback from an eight-week layoff following shoulder surgery when he caught Moylan high at Shark Park.
Adamant the grade two charge was the right one, the NRL’s legal counsel Peter McGrath argued that Burgess’s tackle was “high degree” careless and with a “high level” of force.
McGrath claimed from the moment Burgess’s “swinging” arm collected Moylan, the Sharks fullback was “effectively a rag doll” in the tackle.
“He dropped the ball, his eyes closed. He lost all control,” McGrath said.
Burgess’s lawyer Nick Ghabar insisted the initial point of Burgess’s contact on Moylan was “at worst, the base of his neck”.
He also noted that Moylan passed a head injury assessment 10 minutes after the tackle and told the judiciary panel “there was no evidence of any injury” – despite Moylan on Tuesday being ruled out of Friday night’s clash with Penrith after suffering concussion symptoms.
Ghabar also presented footage from several other grade one high tackles that he deemed to be no less careless than the Souths captain’s.
Judiciary chairman Geoff Bellew instructed the panel of former players Mal Cochrane, Dallas Johnson and Tony Puletua to ignore comparable tackles if they felt previous judiciaries had erred.
Tellingly, though, two such tackles last year from Brisbane prop Matt Lodge and Sydney Roosters hardman Jared Waerea-Hargreaves both came across as much worse than Burgess’s.
“If you look at the incident tonight, I’m not intentionally trying to hurt anyone,” Burgess said.
“I don’t think I’m a dirty player.”
Womblat
Guest
Maybe but unless he intervenes and appeals this shocking, awful, crowd decimating decision, the NRL will rightfully get sued back to the stone age by future CTE complainants. And probably with the same grubby lawyer leading the way. If it wasn't so tragic it would be hilarious.
Papi Smurf
Roar Rookie
I hope you are right mate. I still feel Souths are really missing an effective FB and Cody Walker has turned a corner but still is a couple of games away from where he needs to be. Also, Souths' completion rate has been abysmal for the last couple of weeks and, as a team, particularly on our defensive edges, Souths need to improve 80% to be competitive with the other top 5 sides. If we win feel free to say "I told you so!" It will be music to my ears considering the context.
JVGO
Guest
Meanwhile Fifita breathes near anybody and he is penalised or suspended. But I suppose Sam got roused on by Grandpa Wayne so that is punishment enough.
farkurnell
Roar Rookie
That’s good to know - next time someone clock you round the head I hope you enjoy your trip to Disneyland
My Little Pony
Roar Rookie
Can you explain how it was ironic? I can't find any irony at all.
steveng
Roar Rookie
Spot on Con, its unbelievable to what level of hatred for Souths people always take Sam's or any Souths players misdemeanors to!
steveng
Roar Rookie
PS, I agree with your remarks on Sam (as we all feel that way and he has to pull his head in) but, disagree with your remarks "Although it is a boost it still won’t affect the end result this week against the Storm so rest easy Bunny Bashers" as we will beat the Storm on Sunday! This game will be a turning point for the Bunnies, this has happened in the past and it will happen again. Go You Bunnies!
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
Correct result. Move on. The trip to disneyland came from the head clash when they hit the ground.
Nathan Absalom
Roar Guru
Ironically it was George Burgess who was suspended for two games for throwing the water bottle.
Ken
Guest
The Storms record against a Burgess led South is unbeaten I think in the last 3-4 years , we don’t fear Sam he will give dumb penalty’s away as always , he shouldn’t be playing but .
The Spectator
Roar Guru
The ashes in Adelaide where warme tore em a new one is the best test match I’ve ever seen!
Renegade
Roar Guru
Yep, Moylan is out of this weeks massive clash for the sharks due to concussion.... his clearly faking it though - it’s all a ploy by the sharks to get Burgess suspended so he doesn’t play the Storm.... also some people are dense
Ken
Guest
No we want him to pay we don’t fear him , we’ve beaten Souths nearly a storm often as we beat the Warriors an Broncos , but he shouldn’t be playing , he has learnt nothing from doing swinging arm tackles to guys heads , Moylan can now sue in 20 years time if he suffers brain damage, The Nrl should step in , now they have to sort out future swinging arm tackles cus the the judiciary has set the bench mark that’s a swinging arm to the head that causes concussion is now only a grade 1 , they set a precedent, enjoy the future law suits .
farkurnell
Roar Rookie
No battery we've got Fafita -thats enough trouble, you can keep Sam.
Kay Merda
Roar Rookie
Absolutely. After the debacle of Billy Slater's absolution and subsequent booing in last year's GF I thought the MRC would've bitten the bullet, sacked the goons involved and at least attempted to gain some credibility back. Seriously? A serial thug belts a much smaller player square on the chin, shakes his braincase, leaves him on the sidelines for a few weeks with no sleep and walks away laughing. This time you've done lasting damage, to the poor player involved, to the credibility of the game and when the CTE hammer comes down in the future the REAL judges will be looking up the names of all the second-raters who let this rubbish fly.
Papi Smurf
Roar Rookie
Watch the highlights of the 2006 Ashes test series in Australia. Warne became the first player to take 700 Test wickets and Gilchrist fell agonisingly short of the fastest test century after England put their entire field on the boundary ropes to prevent Gilchrist from hitting a 4 or a 6 to break the record. That series was an exhibition of champagne cricket by Australia and the Aussies have never come close to looking that good again... within the rules and spirit of the game.
matth
Roar Guru
The last week’s been alright too
farkurnell
Roar Rookie
Maybe, if there's plenty of bananas and I get to play on the swings. I guess I could report on all the monkey business going on at the NRL
elvis
Roar Rookie
The summer of Mitch was pretty good.
buttery
Roar Rookie
Burgess got what he deserved, a fine, if the tackle was so bad then how did Moylan jump up, pass the onfield check by the trainer & then set up a try minutes later if he was so badly concussed, all you Burgess haters would love him in your team.