UPDATED: Cleary escapes shoulder charge sanction as rival coach fumes at 'dodgy calls'

Blaming the referee is a sure sign of a desperate coach with no answers. Griffin only has himself to blame for the fiasco 2021 has become. Surely the Dragons need to be looking beyond Griffin he’s a fraud. His sycophant with Corey Norman is indefensible, he’s consistently one the worst players every week. Corey is a rare player, he has far more try assists for the opposition than he does for the Dragons. He gave Penrith 2 last night.

You can't be serious? THAT is your defense?

Larry, thanks for the English tips! :laughing:

I don’t think the Korisau, Kikau , Crichton & a few others would agree with you? Korisau never gets off . Kikau has served plenty of suspensions & Crighton was suspended for last night’s game. Korisau gave someone a little push to get his last suspension . Absolutely terrorised the massive forward that he pushed! Maybe the ‘looked after part’ , was just a bit of sensationalism?

I realise I’m pedantic but please: Because - not cause and Gait - not gate They should be more concerned with whatever you call Rapana’s attempted ‘tackles’ on those to line breakers when he seemed to be trying for the old fashioned coat hanger. Given that Cleary explanation by the nrl, wasn’t Napa a bit stiff in being suspended for leading with his head, you can’t have it both ways unless of course you’re the nrl.

Protected species, like the ‘hit with a wet lettuce leaf’ suspension for his tik tok video & subsequent lies. He won’t be able to turn his back to protect that shoulder forever, might be a few opposing enforcers thinking they can drive it into the turf quite legitimately. I noticed in that earlier game that Josh Hodgson was bordering on shoulder charges several times when trying to put hits on Storm opponents.

If it was a face slap how did the ball get knocked out of his hands? I hope you can give a serious reply although I liked your amusing response. When I played I got knocked out a few times and when I got up I didn't know what happened but I was told it was a fist not a hand brushing past my face as they knocked the ball out of my hands.

Was meant to say “classic shoulder charge action”. Please refer to my response above as to why I believe it was a shoulder charge.

Not an eels or raiders fan so the outcome isn’t of my concern. I have a copy on my work desk, so I’m aware of the rules cause I deal with them daily. It’s true that Initial contact is made with Rapana’s mid-thigh. This is caused due to running action or gate. No apparent change in gate deems this contact as incidental not intentional. If he intentional uses the leg, it’s probably another discussion altogether. First point of intentional contact comes from Rapana’s elbow to Sivo’s torso. I say that cause he is leaning in, which would mean elbow is in front of hip (there well maybe hip but you only have to determine if upper arm is use in contact). When the arm is tucked by defenders side the “upper arm” description in the rulebook is deemed from elbow to shoulder. Rapana clearly has elbow / upper arm tucked against his body with no attempt to wrap. Therefore if you deem no arms (to wrap) are used, can argue point of intentional contact is with upper arm (tucked by the side) and the fact Sivo goes from a metre in field to a metre outside field of plays. We can assume a considerable amount of force has been use. I believe even though technical it should still be deemed as a shoulder charge. It’s just not your cookie cutter version. *incidental / accidental contacts don’t usually result in penalties i.e head clashes / collisions in the air for competing for ball where no one gets out in a dangerous position, they are deemed accidental and play on in most cases.

Not a fan of either club but that is a shoulder charge any day of the week very incompetent reffing

With such a low level of impact was worth a penalty and no try. That’s about it. No one gets suspended for that kind of impact unless your name is Kikau.

The NRL sure do look after the Panthers. In last weeks game, Crichton and Kikau both made crusher tackles. Crichton is on the sideline for 3 weeks and Kikau wasn’t even penalised. This week, Cleary cops nothing for a clear shoulder charge. It wasn’t the worst and most forceful shoulder charge you’ll see, but it was very clearly a shoulder charge.

Cleary has escaped sanction for the "incident" with Jack Bird. Apparently shoulder charges are OK now.

A 120kg man slapping a guy in the head is a finger tap ? Forgive me if it’s impossible to ever take anything that comes from your delusional head seriously in future. You’d just get up as if nothing happened hey big man ?

"Two weeks back Rapana hits Sivo with classics shoulder charge in the game deciding play but it’s not picked up on multiple reviews. " That was as much of a shoulder charge as Scott Sattlers tackle on Todd Byrne was

Bird was charging at him, Cleary stood his ground. Cleary admitted to it and said he couldn’t use his arms because there was another tackler tackling the rampaging Bird. The bunker’s silence was baffling given the bunker in the Easts game where a Bronco finger touched the chin while dislodging the ball that was being carried at shoulder height. It should have been a Brisbane ball from an incorrect play the ball by Easts.

Are you seriously still arguing that Rapana’s tackle was a shoulder charge despite the fact that no part of his shoulder made any kind of contact with Sivo at all?! Read the description of a shoulder charge from the official rule book that I posted above: “forceful contact that has primarily been generated by the shoulder and/or upper arm of the tackling player.” Rapana hit Sivo with his hip and upper leg. Let it go.

The shoulder charge mistake by the bunker was unforgivable and should see a reprimand but the loss can't be pinned on that. The Dragons lost it early after starting so strong but failing to get points. Throwing 2 intercepts later in the same half, that both led to tries (one a couple of plays later) cemented that. Surely Norman is done. He was playing OK earlier in the year, hardly setting the world on fire but he seemed to be having a dig. Puzzlingly, especially now that he doesn't have a contract for next year, he's put his dinner jacket back on and appears to be playing with the zero interest. Hook has already shown reluctance to replace him though, and Hunt being out gives him the added excuse of 'need the experience'. Geez, the difference in energy when Amone was out there was chalk and cheese though. Beale is the other one that needs a line through his name. I actually applaud originally picking him up, we had Lomax, Dufty, Rava missing for at least a few weeks, getting a cheap experienced winger to stand with the young guys was a decent move. And he did OK considering that context. But Lomax and Rava are back, Dufty's on the bench while Bird plays 1 (weakening both fullback and centre positions). Beale's role is done, watching him get continually beaten up at centre is embarrassing.

You're making it sound like poor Cleary was being mercilessly attacked by Bird. Cleary was attempting to stop Bird, rather than making a legal tackle he turned and hit him with a braced shoulder. This is illegal play, there is no question mark - it's baffling that the video refs don't understand this. It hits slightly harder for Dragons fans too when Rava has spent ~3 months suspended this year for big shots where he connected with his inside shoulder. These tackles technically met the description in the rules but would never previously have been described as shoulder charges, and don't have the same 'blind aim' problem that we wiped out shoulder charges because of. So seeing an opponent do a standard shoulder charge and get awarded a try rankles.