Canterbury Bulldogs captain Stephen Crichton is staring down the barrel of an NRL ban after his high shot on Friday night.
Crichton was placed on report and allowed to remain on the field despite what appeared to be a shoulder charge which has ended the season of Warriors centre Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.
The Bulldogs ultimately ran away with a 34-18 victory after the Warriors took an 18-16 lead to the halftime break but five minutes after the resumption, controversy erupted.
Coming out of their own area, Tuivasa-Sheck made a hit up in the middle of the field, taking on three Bulldogs.
Crichton came in from the side and didn’t appear to have any kind of wrapping motion and looked very much like a shoulder charge.
Tuivasa-Sheck immediately tried to get to his feet but stumbled, falling over.
While he tried to make it look like he was perfectly fine, the stumble all but assured he’d have to leave the field.
On Saturday Crichton was hit with a grade two careless high tackle charge by the NRL and is facing a one-game ban with an early plea. It increases to two if he is found guilty.
New Zealand coach Andrew Webster did not mince his words as he spoke post game, firing a shot at NRL match officials over the controversial moment.
“I think we’ve got a big part to play in it (the loss) but I’m struggling to understand how a shoulder can go into Roger’s head and the bunker’s got ages to see it in a critical time of the game and then we lose Roger and we’ve got to reshuffle all our team,” Webster said.
“You’ve got to reshuffle anyway – that’s football – but if it happens because it just happens – but when it happens like that and nothing gets done to them – we’ve got to protect our players.
“And I just don’t see the consistency one little bit around that. Roger will miss next week now and couldn’t come back (into the game) and their player (Crichton) goes on (playing). That’s it.
“There are some parts there that we could have controlled better tonight and the boys know that but I am just frustrated how that happens.
“I just think they need to know what they’re doing, personally. I just don’t think they know. I don’t think they understand because the wording around what they say just isn’t clear. It’s hard.”
Webster was far from the only one left fuming over the moment with those watching on left in disbelief the Dogs skipper wasn’t sent to the sin bin.
Bunker official Liam Kennedy recommended referee Wyatt Raymond just put Crichton on report, citing “a high level of mitigation”.
Fox League commentator Andrew Voss wasn’t buying it.
“‘High level of mitigation’ — where is Stephen Crichton using the arms in that tackle?” Voss said.
“That’s a very controversial decision there.
“Obviously you’ve seen a lot more forceful shoulders to the heads of opponents but the consequences are there of a tackle that is nowhere near copybook technique.”
The fans were left incredulous, particularly after Manly had three players sin binned in Thursday night’s loss to the Tigers at Leichhardt Oval.
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