'What did you want him to do?': Cowboys' Coen Hess charged by judiciary for high shot

Joshua Mayne

•
'What did you want him to do?': Cowboys' Coen Hess charged by judiciary for high shot image

North Queensland Cowboys forward Coen Hess has been charged by the NRL judiciary following his high shot on South Sydney Rabbitohs centre Campbell Graham. 

Hess now faces one week on the sideline with an early guilty plea, or a two-week suspension if he challenges unsuccessfully. 

With one round remaining in the regular season, it is unlikely that the Cowboys would risk losing their enforcer for the first week of the finals.

The incident - which occurred in the 74th minute of the Cowboys' 20-10 loss to the Rabbitohs on Saturday night - saw the 26-year-old sin-binned by referee Gerard Sutton.

The hit also resulted in players coming together for a brief altercation before Hess was given his marching orders.

Despite Hess being dismissed for high contact, Graham was not sent from the field for a head injury assessment, leading to debate as to whether the former Queensland Origin player should have been sin-binned at all.

Cowboys coach Todd Payten questioned the call after the match, stating he was unsure if there was any contact to the head.

"Campbell Graham didn't come off for a HIA, so I'm not sure if he got hit in the head or not," Payten said.

"That's the part I am confused about."

MORE: Todd Payten accuses South Sydney of bending the rules

Phil Gould was also of the same viewpoint.

"He hasn't hit him in the head, and to his credit, Campbell Graham bounces up," Gould said during Nine's post-game coverage.

"What do you want the game to look like if that's illegal? What did you want him to do?"

Graham, however, was adamant that Hess made illegal contact.

"There was contact with my head, I felt," Graham said, as quoted by AAP.

"The initial bit I was dazed but I came good pretty quick.

"I don't know what made contact with my head. I heard it was a head clash, I know he was rattled."

Joshua Mayne

Joshua Mayne Photo

Joshua Mayne is a content producer for The Sporting News Australia based in Sydney, Australia. He has previously worked as a newsreader at 2SER and journalist at Ministry of Sport. While Joshua’s main passions are football, rugby league, basketball and F1, he will watch any sport that's on. He is still waiting for Arsenal to win the Premier League again.