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St George Illawarra coach Anthony Griffin has questioned how a “clear-cut shoulder charge” from Nathan Cleary went unpunished as the Penrith halfback celebrated an NRL win in his injury return.
The Panthers halfback enjoyed a successful comeback game from a labrum tear in his right shoulder, looking at ease in the 34-16 win in his first game since State of Origin 2 on June 27.
The NRL match review committee deemed Cleary’s hit on Jack Bird didn’t constitute a shoulder charge but he was hit with a grade one dangerous contact charge for taking out Junior Amone. He received a $1500 fine only.
His defence against the Dragons was rock solid. However, the hit on Jack Bird in the second half, which led to a Matt Burton try that effectively killed the contest, eft Griffin confused.
“There were a couple of dodgy calls there, particularly Cleary’s shoulder charge on Jack Bird,” Griffin said.
“How that gets awarded a try I don’t know.
“That was a clear-cut shoulder charge, the one they brought the rule in for where you don’t use your arms.
“That is try-scoring vision they (the bunker) had to go back and watch.
“I don’t know how they cleared that, it was a massive play.
“We played a high intensity game but with intercepts and calls like that it makes it hard.”
(Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
Cleary was satisfied with his performance and confident he’d have nothing to worry about after being told on-field that his tackle had been cleared.
“I definitely didn’t try and shoulder charge him; I saw him kind of pick me out from the kick chase and knew that I was going to have to put my body on the line,” Cleary said.
“There was someone next to me, so I tried to lift my arm, but I couldn’t really get it all the way across.”
The Dragons’ fifth straight loss leaves them two points outside the top eight with three games to conclude their regular season – against the Sydney Roosters, North Queensland and South Sydney.
Cleary’s return didn’t instantly transform the Panthers, who completed just one full set compared to the Dragons’ nine in the opening 20 minutes.
But Penrith still led 6-0 when Brent Naden juggled and intercepted a Corey Norman pass to race 90 metres to score.
The Penrith errors kept coming and finally the Dragons took advantage when Zac Lomax found an offload for Mikaele Ravalawa, despite seemingly being wrapped up by three Panthers.
Lomax drilled the sideline conversion to draw the score level, but Penrith had another Norman intercept to thank when Naden crossed again.
Dylan Edwards then spun over after Liam Martin’s ferocious hit-up had cleared the path as Penrith built a 16-6 halftime lead.
They returned a more typical Panthers unit, Cleary drilling kicks into the corners before Matt Burton set up Edwards’ second and then barged over for one himself after Bird’s knock-on.
Impressive teenager Talatau Amone and Bird scored consolation tries for the Dragons but Andrew McCullough’s season is likely over after a nasty ankle roll.
© AAP
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