Nathan Cleary suspended for five matches after taking early guilty plea for dangerous throw

Joshua Mayne

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Tom Naghten

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Nathan Cleary suspended for five matches after taking early guilty plea for dangerous throw image

Panthers co-captain Nathan Cleary has taken the early guilty plea for his dangerous throw on Dylan Brown and will now miss five matches.

Penrith take on the Raiders, Storm, Rabbitohs, Warriors and Cowboys in their five remaining regular season games before Cleary will be eligible to return in the first week of finals.

Cleary was hit with a grade three charge for his tackle on the Eels five-eighth in Penrith's Friday night defeat.

An unsuccessful challenge at the NRL judiciary would have seen Cleary suspended for six games.

Cleary was sent from the field by referee Todd Smith after making the tackle, which saw the 24-year-old lift Brown around the waist and between his legs, driving the Eel into the turf head-first.

Notably, Cleary is now ineligible for this year's Dally M Medal. 

Per the NRL's rules, players have three points deducted for each week of suspension but are immediately made ineligible if they are banned for two or more matches. 

At the round 12 cut-off, Clearly was sitting in 12th position with 10 points in the Dally M standings.

Cleary's loss is made even more significant by a knee injury to halves partner Jarome Luai.

The five-eighth is also set to return around finals time, meaning Sean O'Sullivan, along with Jaeman Salmon and Kurt Falls, will have the job of steering the premiers around for their remaining regular season games.

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. 

 

Tom Naghten

Tom Naghten Photo

Tom Naghten is a senior editor at The Sporting News Australia where he's been part of the team since 2017. He predominantly covers boxing and MMA. In his spare time, he likes to watch Robbie Ahmat's goal against the Kangaroos at the SCG in 2000.