Corey Horsburgh will miss the rest of Canberra’s season unless they make it all the way to the Grand Final after he failed in his bid to have a grade-one shoulder charge thrown out at Tuesday night’s judiciary hearing.
The Queensland Origin representative rolled the dice after initially being handed a three-game ban for a hit on Corey Jensen in last Saturday’s loss to the Broncos.
Roosters prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves has been rubbed out for a total of seven games after his pleas fell on deaf ears at the hearing.
He had accepted a three-game ban for headbutting Wests Tigers prop Stefano Utoikamanu in Saturday’s round-26 clash, ruling him out until at least the preliminary finals.
The Tricolours firebrand opted to challenge his grade-two dangerous contact charge, in a bid to avoid an additional three-game suspension for a shot on Apisai Koroisau moments earlier in the same match.
If he had been successful in downgrading the charge, the veteran Kiwi would have been able to pay a $3000 fine and avoid any further ban.
Waerea-Hargreaves will now miss a further four games to make it seven all up after he was unsuccessful. The ban will carry into New Zealand’s end-of-season Test series and next year’s NRL.
Represented by James McLeod, his argument was that he did not make contact with Koroisau’s head.
“I accept that I was late, maybe even clumsy, but I was committed to the tackle,” he argued.
“I committed to the tackle and me traveling at a certain pace for a big guy I wasn’t able to stop on time. I definitely think it was careless, I don’t think it was reckless.”
The Roosters need to beat the Rabbitohs on Friday night and have other results fall in their favour if they are to reach the finals.
Horsbrough’s ban is a huge blow to the seventh-placed Raiders’ chances heading into Sunday’s trip to Shark Park where they need to beat Cronulla otherwise they could miss out on the playoffs if other results earlier in the round don’t go their way.
“I’m very disappointed with the result, I think four weeks is a bit much but onwards and upwards,” Horsburgh said.
The judiciary panel of Bob Lindner and Sean Hampstead unanimously found the 25-year-old guilty after 20 minutes of deliberation. He was supported by Raiders chief executive Don Furner and was cheered into Rugby League Central by Canberra superfan and club drummer Simon Tayoun.
The NRL’s legal counsel Patrick Knowles claimed the tackle was “at the very least careless” and the was “no attempt to use the arm at all”.
“This is a clear case of a shoulder charge,” he argued.
Horsburgh’s lawyer, Nick Ghabar, countered by saying that for the forward have to be shown to have shoulder-charged Jensen, it had to be proved that it was “forceful, no arms and careless”.
“On all three of those aspects the prosecution falls short of proving guilt on the balance of probabilities.”
Canberra were already without veteran prop Josh Papali’i, who was sent for surgery on a torn bicep tendon.
The Samoa international suffered the injury in the Raiders’ defeat to Brisbane and the surgery puts him out of action for the rest of the campaign.
Canberra named Emre Guler to start and picked potential debutant Hohepa Puru on the bench. Youngster Ata Mariota will play a bigger role and Pasami Saulo could also join the side from the reserves list.
In a boost for Stuart and his Raiders, halfback Jamal Fogarty (eye) trained on Tuesday and is expected to line up against the Sharks.
Censored Often
Roar Rookie
Apparently far worse that chowing down on an opponent's forearm as well.
Cugel
Roar Rookie
Apparenty, judging from the Roar's Chicken Little community, this is direction the game should be going.
andrew
Roar Rookie
You can partly blame Robinson. As coach he should have pulled JWH up long ago but he's just let him do his thing. It'll be interesting to see if Radley behaves on Friday night.
farkurnell
Roar Rookie
Yeah couldn’t happen to a nicer grub
Poss
Roar Rookie
Nah Andrew as much as I like JWH & love the Chooks what he did was absolutely stupid..They had won that game by that stage of his indiscretions & he knew that the team needed him for the Rabbits game Friday & he goes & does what he did...I'm utterly devestated as we need all men on the field because the Rabbits are going to come out all guns blazing...He has not only let Robbo & the Boys down he has let the fans down as well through his stupidity... :angry:
Panthers
Roar Rookie
Jesse Ramien’s shoulder charge actually injured Ponga.
Brendon Waldron
Roar Pro
Personally, I thought Horsburgh had a few shoulder charge attempts in that game go unnoticed. This wasn't really the worst of them and on its own this is probably harsh punishment, but I ain't mad about it...
Brendon Waldron
Roar Pro
He didn't get 7 weeks for one offence, it's 4 weeks and three weeks for two offences...
Phil
Roar Rookie
From what I saw of Corey's "offence," it was a great tackle and as Geoff said here last night, chest to chest. As for JWH, his whack on Api looked bad but his "headbutt" wouldn't have dented butter, more of a push with the head rather than a butt. Nevertheless, at his age and experience in the game he should never have fallen for the bait a youngster threw at him. Silly old man.
andrew
Roar Rookie
No Vegas trip for JWH I'm guessing.
Bernie
Roar Rookie
yeah, someone would have to explain it to me. player A gets picked for NZ, but wait he's banned, so oh ok we unpick him. as if the NZ coach wouldn't know his ineligible - but player gets a game off his suspension total anyway. similar if Player B is suspended & injured, coach selects him anyway, but wait he's banned, so oh ok we unpick him - player gets a game of his total & he was never fit to play anyway. or some-one a bit past it like K.Foran, who in all likelyhood probably wouldn't be picked. coach does him a favour, selects him, but wait he's banned, so ok we unpick him - and he gets a game off his total.
Dumbo
Roar Rookie
"The ban will carry into New Zealand’s end-of-season Test series and next year’s NRL." Personally, I would prefer to see bans for offences committed in the NRL be served by missing out only on NRL games. Similarly, offences in SOO / rep games should be served by missing out on the next SOO / rep games. For JWH, it is pretty well certain he would be have been selected for end-of-season tests, but what if he had been a fringe test selection ? Could a fringe player claim that he was eligible for selection in a test, so that should be counted as one of his "missed out" games? Maybe, I'm making too much of this, and I invite anyone who thinks that to tell me!
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
Many are questioning the ruling on Horsburgh but his own lawyer said the tackle had to be “forceful, no arms and careless”. I'm not defending the judiciary, but which one(s) of these did Horsburgh not do?
souvalis
Roar Rookie
Ricky copped retribution much more damaging than any 2 bob fine. That with Papalii is his season.
Censored Often
Roar Rookie
As silly as JWH is I still fail to see how it's 7 times worse tha Latrell Mitchell's dog shot to the back of an opponents head (with his elbow).
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
Instead of complaining about JWH being targeted by the refs supercoach Robbo could have dragged JWH into the modern era a long time ago. He got away with a similar sort of Headbutt in the 2013 GF which was harmless but it was given a green light which only endorsed his nonsense.
Brett305
Roar Rookie
The nrl has once again hung an albatross around its neck…does anyone believe that a leading forward from a big club won’t put a shot on like big reds during the final series? What do we expect will happen then , a fine, a slap on the wrist is what I expect to happen and the game looking like amateur hour, that it is..what a joke..
Brett305
Roar Rookie
Once again the incompetent nrl judiciary throws out a curve ball…there is a snowflakes chance in hell that a tackle like big reds won’t occur during the finals series..then what..? We know there won’t be any consistency and a big name forward will get off with a fine or a slap on the wrist..who are these clowns running the game?
Big Mig
Roar Rookie
The Horsburgh decision was harsh, the JWH decision totally justified.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Roar Rookie
From the angle I saw I thought he would get off. No penalty awarded at the time – just looked like a good solid front on tackle. Total BS from the NRL. Ricky will be steaming. Do these turkeys even know what a shoulder charge is? Its front on chest to chest with the arms out. No attempt to turn the shoulder and hit the player high. Ridiculous decision. Time to circle the wagons Ricky.