Wests Tigers’ woes got worse on Tuesday night at the judiciary when five-eighth Jackson Hastings was rubbed out for three matches.
He had been charged with a dangerous throw in their loss to Newcastle and could have accepted a ban of two games with an early guilty plea. He pleaded guilty but rolled the dice at the judiciary to try to get the grade-two offence reduced in a bid to avoid suspension and escape with a fine.
However, he was found guilty and will not be available until Round 6 in another blow for the Tigers who have started the season with two straight losses.
Hastings and Joe Ofahengaue were both charged for a tackle on fullback Tex Hoy in the 13th minute of the Knights’ big win. Ofahengaue was handed a grade-one offence and has accepted a fine of $1000.
“It wasn’t intentional,” Hastings said. “Obviously he got put in a bit of an awkward situation at the top there, but I feel like he landed OK.”
Warriors five-eighth Ash Taylor‘s return to the NRL was short-lived – he has been ruled out of Round 3 due to a hip problem suffered in last weekend’s loss to his old club Gold Coast.
Storm star Harry Grant is out of the Round 3 clash with Parramatta after testing positive to COVID-19.
Sharks forward Teig Wilton has accepted a one-game suspension after being charged by the match review committee for dangerous contact on Mitch Moses.
Wilton, who scored the match-winning try in the final minute of Saturday night’s 18-16 win over Parramatta at Shark Park, was charged for grade-two dangerous contact for tackling Moses in mid air after the halfback had booted the ball downfield in the 54th minute.
Eels utility Ray Stone ($1000 for dangerous contact), Dragons veteran George Burgess ($1000 for dangerous contact) and Cowboys forward Tom Gilbert ($1500 for a crusher tackle) were the only other players charged from Round 2.
Titans NRLW star Georgia Hale has copped a one-game ban for a crusher tackle in her team’s upset win over Brisbane.
Raiders veteran Josh Hodgson has played his last game for the club after he was booked in for knee surgery this week, which will rule him out for the remainder of the 2022 season.
Hodgson, who has signed to play with Parramatta next year, suffered the injury in the Round 1 win over Cronulla and club doctor Greg Macleod said after scans and further assessment, it was decided he needed an operation.
The English hooker said he was gutted for his time at the Green Machine to end like this.
“It’s certainly not the way I wanted to finish up at Canberra. After a disappointing year last year, it was probably the best I’ve felt this year in terms of my body, and I was feeling really fit and really fresh after a good pre-season with no internationals and no rehab. To do it in such a minor way and sustain such a big injury is really frustrating,” Hodgson said.
Cowboys forward Mitchell Dunn‘s season is over after he suffered an ACL tear in the victory over the Raiders in a non-contact incident in the 30th minute of the match in Townsville.
Panthers winger Brian To’o is looking at 6-8 weeks out after tearing his MCL in Friday’s victory over the Dragons, while James Fisher-Harris (shoulder) and Scott Sorensen (wrist) are likely to only miss a match after being cleared of serious injury.
Roosters trio Connor Watson (shoulder), Sitili Topouniua (concussion) and Joey Manu (knee) are under a cloud heading into the Round 3 showdown with South Sydney while Sharks winger Ronaldo Mulitalo (concussion) will also be monitored during the week after failing to finish the tussle with the Eels.
NRL injuries and suspensions, team by team
Broncos
Thomas Flegler (suspended, Round 4)
Xavier Willison (knee, mid-season)
Bulldogs
Raymond Faitala-Mariner (foot, Round 3-4)
Matt Doorey (knee, mid-season)
Cowboys
Jamayne Taunoa-Brown (knee, Round 3-4)
Ben Hampton (hamstring, Round 3-4)
Mitchell Dunn (knee, season)
Lachlan Burr (hip – early retirement)
Dragons
Billy Burns (foot, Round 4)
Jayden Sullivan (hamstring (Round 3-4)
Aaron Woods (hamstring, Round 4-5)
Max Feagai (ankle, indefinite)
Josh McGuire (suspended, Round 6)
Eels
Ryan Matterson (hamstring, Round 4-5)
Sean Russell (ribs, lung indefinite)
Maika Sivo (knee, June-July)
Haze Dunster (knee, season)
Knights
Daniel Saifiti (leg, Round 3)
Sauaso Sue (suspended, Round 3)
Kalyn Ponga (knee, Round 3-4)
Jayden Brailey (Achilles, June-July)
Bailey Hodgson (elbow, indefinite)
Hymel Hunt (knee, indefinite)
Panthers
Nathan Cleary (shoulder, Round 3-4)
James Fisher-Harris (shoulder, Round 3-4)
Scott Sorensen (wrist, Round 3-4)
Mavrik Geyer (elbow, Round 5)
Brian To’o (knee, Round 7-9)
Moses Leota (shoulder, Round 9-11)
Rabbitohs
Liam Knight (ankle, Round 5)
Blake Taaffe (ankle, Round 5)
Raiders
Brad Schneider (COVID, Round 3)
Jarrod Croker (back, TBC)
Peter Hola (knee, Round 3-4)
Jordan Rapana (suspended, Round 3)
Jamal Fogarty (knee, Round 15)
Josh Hodgson (knee, season)
Harley Smith-Shields (ACL, season)
Roosters
Sitili Tupouniua (concussion, Round 3-4)
Connor Watson (shoulder, Round 3-4)
Joey Manu (knee, Round 3-4)
Sam Verrills (thumb, Round 5-6)
Joseph Suaalii (foot, Round 3-4)
Joseph Suaalii. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Sea Eagles
Josh Schuster (ankle, Round 3-5)
Ben Trbojevic (knee, Round 3-5)
Josh Aloiai (suspended, Round 4)
Sharks
Jack Williams (knee, Round 4)
Teig Wilton (suspended, Round 4)
Wade Graham (ankle, Round 4-6)
Storm
Harry Grant (COVID, Round 4)
Cooper Johns (shoulder, Round 4-5)
Brandon Smith (hand, Round 3-4)
Christian Welch (Achilles, season)
George Jennings (knee, season)
Tui Kamikamica (stood down)
(Photo by Speed Media/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Tigers
Jacob Liddle (knee, Round 4)
Jackson Hastings (suspended, Round 6)
Adam Doueihi (knee, Round 8-14)
Tommy Talau (knee, mid-season)
Asu Kepaoa (pectoral, mid-season)
Shawn Blore (ACL, season)
Titans
Joe Vuna (knee, mid-season)
Warriors
Ash Taylor (hip, Round 4)
Viliami Vailea (knee, Round 5)
Shaun Johnson (pec, Round 5)
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak (thumb, Round 9-11)
Tohu Harris (knee, June-July)
JennyFromPenny
Guest
That’s no good that Grant is out. Quite unbelievable that no one else in the team has it, let alone any of last week’s opponents the Rabbits. Else are they all infected, jusit that they are inside the incubation period, and very much about to test positive sometime very soon? An early bird bet on Parra @ $2.60 might catch a worm.
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
You recycling comments BS?? :silly:
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
He's playing Thursday, named
Larry1950
Guest
Pretty brutal game & hard on those parts of the body that have to take constant strain, isn’t it? Total of 23 knee injuries listed, it’s a full nrl squad when you throw in the ankle & achilles injuries. That’s why you shouldn’t bag players for getting big contracts that supposedly aren’t justified.
Censored Often
Roar Rookie
It's reasonable simple Adam (to this dinosaur anyway). If a decoy player runs through the line and takes out a defender thus denying him the opportunity to make a tackle and then the ball carrier runs through the gap and lays on a try it's obstruction. It's been obstruction since Moses wore short pants and will probably be obstruction next week too. Not last weekend though...
Adam
Roar Guru
They really need to go back to whether or not a player was impeded. But we're all a bunch of babies so this is our cross to bear
Tony
Roar Guru
:laughing:
Censored Often
Roar Rookie
Another week in the NRL and another slant on the obstruction rule from Ray Charles in the bunker. Frustrating to say the least...
steveng
Roar Rookie
Jimbo, yours is the usual nonsensical comment about that incident and deserves zero credibility! The tackle in real time (not slow mo) didn’t look like anything, as a matter of a fact it was that quick that no one knew what happened not even the chooks players that were around Manu, its very well to be so rightous after the event like all you clowns that keep harping about it do!
Jimbo
Guest
If the linesman or referee had called the pass to Russell forward straight away. No injury mat have occurred. Not to excuse Campbell for using the knees! As that pass was 2 metres forward! Don’t believe me? Just check it out again & get a measure using the 10 metre line . Way forward! The pass backwards & floated several metres forward, is crap…
Albo
Roar Rookie
Nothing wrong with Holbrook pointing out his team was caned 7-1 in the penalties, although the Titans did get the only one restart call for the match. He will hope to help launch the "roundabout" as soon as next weekend, rather than later in the season.
Albo
Roar Rookie
Oh Please ! Panthers got the restart calls 7-2, understandable when the Panthers were steamrolling them . Manly got the penalty count 7-4 , understandable when the officials were trying to "manage " the game.
Tony
Roar Guru
That should have been a sin-bin and suspension every day of the week.
Dandragon
Roar Rookie
“…No more than Latrell’s split second badly timed shot on Manu. But Campbell’s tackle WAS dangerous with disastrous effect.” BUT??? “But Cambell’s tackle WAS dangerous with disastrous effect”….whereas Latrell’s was…. what exactly? A kiss on the cheek that went wrong? From many metres out. How on Earth u take a Titans/Eels contentious issue & turn it into yet another of the Rabbitoh’s great injustices is just unimaginable for those of us with some sense of sanity. It’s hugely disrespectful too, the way u persist in minimising Manu’s injuries. Purely accidental, of course. Latrell more than demonstrated how accidental that collision was after the event, carrying on the way he did.
Rob
Guest
Latrell was let off very lightly when he was only sin binned for his horrible hit on Manu.
steveng
Roar Rookie
What makes it even more one sided and should be added to these stats is that the Panthers got 10 to 1 6 again at crucial times of the 1st half and 2nd half, while Manly dropped the ball and got penalised all over the place, no team can win a game with those stats against them which is what happened plus Manly were like the Bunnies just a rabble and did nothing all game and didn’t deserve to win.
steveng
Roar Rookie
GB this is what the NRL has to stop and completely get out of the game, as Campbell’s knees first effort is highly dangerous and is not a legal RL defensive anything, never mind an attempted tackle and/or had any chance in stopping a certain try. If Trell did the same to Manu as Campbell did in the process of Manu scoring a certain try, can you imagine what the clowns show would be like? That Campbell incident ‘knees first intentional dangerous act” is not a tackle and should have been penalised and treated as an 8 point penalty try.
Andrew01
Roar Rookie
Justin Holbrook whined that because his club are not a "big club" they don't get their share of calls. Well when your club is a big club and your 5/8 accidently makes contact with knees in a tackle resulting in the try scorer going to hospital, it gets run all over the media for several days before you get a Grade 3 charge at judiciary. When you are the Titans, it gets swept under the carpet. Not grade 1, Not Grade 2. Nothing. Yes there was no intent, yes Russell was diving low to the ground. But how often do we see a player falling in a tackle get hit high and it is put on report/suspended/fined. Swings and Roundabouts Holbrook.
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
At the very least. The last time Latrell Mitchell was let off that lightly he was playing for the Roosters. Coincidence? :laughing:
The Sporacle
Roar Rookie
It was a fitness thing with Reynolds, as in they thought he was not fully recovered enough, it wasn't an actual requirement for a pos pcr test :thumbup: