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Karl Lawton will miss at least four weeks for his dangerous tackle on Rabbitoh Cameron Murray, in Manly’s 40-22 defeat in Gosford on Friday night.
Lawton was sent off in the eighth minute of the match for the tackle, forcing the Sea Eagles to play a man short for more than 70 minutes.
Despite suggestions from coach Des Hasler and former greats Brad Fittler and Cameron Smith that the sending off was harsh, the NRL judiciary have proceeded to throw the book at Lawton, hit with a grade three dangerous throw charge.
He will miss four matches with an early guilty plea, but risks increasing that to five should he choose to challenge.
Lawton was effecting a strong legs tackle on Souths captain Cameron Murray, and technically, it was a near-perfect tackle – but went far beyond the horizontal and resulted in Murray landing directly on his head.
It was a clearly dangerous tackle and nearly inevitably under the current iteration of the rules that Lawton would be sent from the field. He will now front the judiciary and likely find himself with a lengthy ban.
Des Hasler wondered aloud as to whether it might have been merely a binning rather than a dismissal.
“It’s not a good one,” he said. “He’s devastated, the poor kid, he’s such a hard worker. He plays the game at pace and he’s got such a nice temperament.
“There’s certainly no malice in the tackle but, at the same time, there’ll be some consequences to that tackle.
“Which is a sending off and which is sin bin? I thought maybe a decision could have been disputed there but either way, he wasn’t going to stay on the field and we’ll leave it to the judiciary to judge now.
“The way that they have been judging tackles, it was a one-on-one but there was certainly enough evidence that he was going to leave the field, either for sin bin or sending off. The referee chose to send him off so we have to wear that.”
GOSFORD, AUSTRALIA – APRIL 29: Karl Lawton of the Sea Eagles is sent off after a dangerous tackle during the round eight NRL match between the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Manly Sea Eagles at Central Coast Stadium, on April 29, 2022, in Gosford, Australia. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Souths coach Jason Demetriou felt that it was not a malicious tackle, but was punished correctly.
“I don’t think it was deliberate,” he said. “It’s one of those things that happens, but it’s a really dangerous tackle. Cam’s lucky that he rolled, because otherwise he’d have been in a lot of trouble.
“If it was one of my players, I’d see it as fair probably.”
Media views were split. “No one is hurt, everyone is OK. Settle down. He doesn’t need a spell,” raged Phil Gould on the 9 commentary. “To be sent off for that, when there is no injury to the player, I find it extraordinary … if that’s your product, I give up.”
The polar opposite view was available on Fox League, with Greg Alexander telling the half time show:
“I thought it was a send-off offence. We have had players get players in positions and this is the tackle that we want to stamp out.
“Players that get a player up in an awkward position don’t go on with it like that, and Karl Lawton drove him into the ground head first.
“Cameron Murray twisted his head and landed on his shoulder, but it could have been a little different. I’ve got no argument with it being a send-off.”
Souths played fitfully, scoring points in bunches through tried defending, but were incapable of putting the Sea Eagles away.
When Souths got enough ball, they invariably found points through the weight of numbers and tiredness through the middle, but those moments were few and far between.
A blast at the end of the first half and again at the end of the second was enough to blow things out, but the story of the game was far closer than the score suggested.
Cody Walker, in his 150th NRL game, was a standout, as was Cameron Murray, who suffered the tackle from Lawton but got up to lead his team around the park.
“We started the season 1-3, and we won three of the next four and were beaten by a field goal in the last minute in the other game, so I’m proud of the month we’ve had,” said Demetriou. “We’ll freshen up and be ready to go again next week.
“I thought with the footy we always looked sharp and dangerous. Cody (Walker) is getting better every week. But defensively we invited them back into the game.”
Manly’s old firm halfback pairing of Daly Cherry-Evans and Kieran Foran were able to manoeuvre the Bunnies around, using smart kicking and game management to limit fatigue in their own ranks.
Josh Schuster, returning for his first game of 2022, was also excellent and Christian Tuipulotu on the left wing.
Less so was Jason Saab, who grabbed his first try of the year but was suspect defensively and managed just 40 running metres – over 100m fewer than Tuipulotu.
Hasler was impressed with how his team fought back after the early setback.
“We just talked about it there and we think there are plenty of good things that we can take away from this game,” he said.
“It was a very young side, so from an experience point of view, there’s plenty to get out of it.
“The harsher side of it is that there were times where we had the lead and lost it then got back in front within 40 minutes of football. There’s some improvement we can find there.
“Particularly against a side like Souths, that was the best forward pack that they could put on today so it’s not like they’re not an experienced side.
“They were calm about it, held their nerve and put on 40 points. We’ll walk away with some lessons learned and come back to Brookvale next week and back ourselves against a rejuvenated Tigers side.”
Hasler revealed that Brad Parker is in doubt for that Wests clash next week with a twisted knee, but floated potential returns for Haumole Olakau’atu – suspended tonight – and superstar fullback Tom Trbojevic.
Blake Taaffe kicked a goal from the penalty that resulted from the send off, but despite the man disadvantage, Manly scored the first try. After a smart ball strip from Dylan Walker, Kieran Foran looked like he had got the Sea Eagles on the board.
The try had been given on the ground, but after replays on the big screen, it looked a lot like Lachlan Ilias had got his hands under the ball. With the try given, it stood and 12-man Manly lead.
The Sea Eagles were suddenly rampant. Daly Cherry-Evans, for the first time in 2022, found Jason Saab with a weighted kick to the corner and the winger got another.
Souths didn’t panic. With an hour of footy left in them, they fought their way back up the field and, eventually, Keaon Koloamatangi got over the line.
Before Manly had touched the ball again, it would be more. Martin Taupau lay on too long and jumped the Bunnies up the park, before Alex Johnston made Jason Saab look very silly to cross in the corner.
The Sea Eagles wouldn’t go away. Cherry-Evans kicked a 40/20 before Josh Schuster reminded everyone of what they had been missing with a no-look, soft hands offload to Christian Tuipulotu.
Though only 60 seconds remained on the clock for the half, Souths would strike back again. Taupau coughed up possession and, on the last play, the Bunnies’ left edge had Manly shot for numbers and Isaiah Tass got over. Taaffe’s converted to put Souths ahead 18-16 at the break.
The tiredness started to kick in early in the second half. On the fourth tackle in the Manly end, Tom Burgess took a simple hit up but was able to shrug off Taupau and carry Lachlan Croker over the line with him.
Before Manly had touched the ball, Cody Walker was over in game 150, aided by a Tass offload.
Manly’s bodies might have been failing, but their spirit was not. Foran kicked for Cherry-Evans, but Damien Cook pulled him back before he could get there. It was as clear a penalty try as they come.
As had happened in the first half, the tiredness told for the Sea Eagles. Cam Murray strolled through fatigued tacklers to dive under the posts, and with seconds on the clock, Blake Taaffe completed the scoring.
40-22 wasn’t a fair reflection of proceedings, and things might have been very different with equal numbers, but Souths won’t care one jot.