The decision to sin-bin Wade Graham in the second-half of Cronulla's loss to South Sydney has raised some eyebrows, with the veteran second-rower likely facing a nervous wait for the judiciary charges.
With the Sharks down by eight points and the clock ticking, Graham flew out of the line to put a big shot on young gun Davvy Moale in an attempt to change the momentum of the game.
Unfortunately for the 32-year-old, he managed to get his timing slightly wrong and despite being overlooked by the on-field officials initially, Graham was sent for 10 minutes right after the Rabbitohs scored a match-sealing try.
Moale was not sent for a HIA following the incident, but replays showed Graham's shoulder collecting with his chin.
MORE: Ricky Stuart slams NRL, RLPA over concussions and player welfare issues
WHAT A HIT. 🤯
— Fox League (@FOXNRL) March 4, 2023
How did he hold onto it? 😳
📺WATCH #NRLSharksSouths on Ch. 502 or stream via @kayosports https://t.co/KU6O1WswuO
✍️BLOG https://t.co/A5eg5P934q
🔢 MATCH CENTRE https://t.co/nBa30Yum3S pic.twitter.com/mrCljaHGZb
Speaking to the media after the game, Sharks captain Dale Finucane backed his teammate for his attempted game-changer and doesn't believe it was worthy of a sin-bin.
“I thought it looked really good, I wasn’t sure that he hit him high," he said.
"My first glance at it, I thought it wasn’t high.
"Obviously with the time of the game it was and the point we needed to make up, Wade was looking to change the momentum and cause a collision to get the ball back for us.
"I think any player in any team would want to be doing that – whether or not it was high, I don’t know. I think that any player in any team would be looking to do the same thing to change the moment."
Craig Fitzgibbon refused to comment on the tackle, but did question the decision from the officials to rule a Braydon Trindall forward pass earlier in the night that led to a try.
“Live it looked spectacular. It looked like it was pretty high, we’ll see what happens," he said.
"We’re powerless to decide that…we don’t get to analyse it in real time.
“I’m not gonna sit here and start it Round 1 on that stuff, but it was pretty obvious it wasn’t [a forward pass].
"I’d be interested in their feedback on that – did someone yell forward and they flinched? I don’t know."
Opposition coach Jason Demetriou also didn't see a major effort in the tackle either.
“It’s risky when you shoot out like that...I don’t think there was any intent in it," he said post-game.
Fitzgibbon admitted his side were below their best without the ball in their hands, but is expecting them to make a quick turnaround for the Round 2 clash with Parramatta.
“Not where we needed to be…we need to be better than that," he said.
"There was a bit of a disconnect at times and the high-end edge defence wasn’t good enough tonight and they [Souths] are good at asking those questions.
"That will be something to work that’s for sure – we were bouncing off too many tackles in the second-half. We know how we want to defend, but we didn’t get it done in the second-half.
“It was looking like it was going to be a great tussle...some of the stop-start hurt us and we hurt ourselves and every time we were about to assert pressure or looking like we could assert pressure, we didn’t do that and they did that better than us.
"They took the moments of that pressure and they executed that and that’s where the difference was for me.
"Back to the drawing board – there’s plenty to address there, but it was looking like it was gonna be a cracker and then it got stop-start and a bit all over the shop."
