Souths recruit Jack Wighton banned for three weeks over biting

The Rabbitohs will be without key recruit Jack Wighton for the start of the 2024 season after the former rep star was banned for three matches for biting at a fiery hearing.

Wighton denied it was a bite. Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

The Rabbitohs will be without key recruit Jack Wighton for the start of the 2024 season after the former rep star was banned for three matches at a fiery judiciary hearing for intentionally biting Newcastle’s Tyson Gamble in Sunday’s elimination final.

The Raiders five-eighth was referred directly to the judiciary for an incident in the 47th minute when Gamble reeled out of a tackle and made an official complaint to referee Ashley Klein that he’d been bitten.

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Wighton pleaded not guilty to the charge and was adamant at the time that he’d done nothing wrong, with Klein placing the incident on report and filing a referee’s report that said while he’d seen a mark and saliva, he couldn’t be sure of a bite.

It’s not the first biting controversy this year, with Broncos winger Ash Werner sent off in an NRLW game and suspended for two matches, while Gold Coast’s Kevin Proctor missed four games for biting in 2020.

The key difference this time around was that Gamble did not provide evidence on Tuesday night, unlike Roosters star Jayme Fressard who told the panel that she had been bitten and provided photos showing the scabbing on her arm.

The panel of Paul Simpkins and Tony Puletua sat through an 80-minute hearing and then deliberated for a further 23 minutes before unanimously finding Wighton guilty.

It means he’ll miss the first three games of the 2024 season for his new club – including the historic trip to Las Vegas – with Wighton unable to use Test matches as part of the ban because he announced his retirement from the rep arena earlier in the year.

Gamble claimed he was bitten. Photo: NRL PHOTOS

The NRL proposed a four-game ban based on the fact Wighton had entered four guilty pleas to charges this year, while the defence wanted half of that and used a character reference from Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga to support the 2020 Dally M Medal winner.

“I believe the actions are definitely out of character and not part of Jack’s demeanour when on the field,” part of Meninga’s statement read.

The Canberra star had earlier argued that Gamble put his arm inside his mouth and that he never clamped down in a biting motion.

Wighton was only wearing a mouth guard on his top teeth and told the panel that Gamble had wrapped his left arm around his head with “extreme pressure” and that he couldn’t have disappeared from the contact.

“There was no biting,” he defiantly said.

“He was squeezing my head really hard. His forearm fell into my mouth before I could shut it.

“I’ve got nowhere to go. He’s got full body weight and full pressure so I’m locked in. That explains why there are teeth marks because my mouth was jammed in. At no point did I clench down.

“Not at any stage did I bite down.”

Judiciary counsel Patrick Knowles used six angles to mount his case and then grilled Wighton under cross-examination, telling the 30-year-old that Gamble had applied little pressure to the back of his head before the bite.

That’s when Wighton took exception via video link where he was sitting with Raiders chief executive Don Furner.

“How many games of rugby league have you played?” he barked back, earning the ire of judiciary chairman, the Honourable Geoffrey Bellew.

Jack Wighton denied it was an ordinary tackle.

Knowles argued it was an intentional bite and stressed the lack of injury meant very little given a still photo and a close-up video showed an indentation above the strapping on Gamble’s left arm.

“What you do see is the mouth open and then the instant recoil of Gamble’s arm and an immediate complaint,” he said.

“Mere pressure to the mouth wouldn’t create a mark like that.”

Defence counsel Nick Ghabar argued that Gamble’s motive may have been to gain an advantage by having Canberra’s best player sent off because they were down by 10 points at the time, but Bellew instructed the panel to ignore that submission.

He also claimed that his client hadn’t clamped down and that if he did there would have been puncture marks or something more substantial.

“The video is completely inconclusive,” Ghabar said.

“The bite mark itself is inconclusive.”

Originally published as Souths recruit Jack Wighton banned for three weeks over biting