Billy Slater shoulder charge overshadows Storm surge to NRL grand final
THE shoulders on which Billy Slater carried his team in to a third straight NRL Grand Final could also cost the Storm superstar the chance to go out on an all-time high.
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THE shoulders on which Billy Slater carried his team in to a third straight NRL Grand Final could also cost the retiring Melbourne Storm superstar the chance to go out on an all-time high.
Slater was incomparable in his team’s preliminary final win over Cronulla, easily the best man on the field in an effort which begged the question of why he is actually retiring.
But a first-half try saving effort, deemed a shoulder charge by the referees, puts his immediate playing future in the hands of the NRL judiciary.
Shoulder charges are punishable by suspension and should the effort to stop Sharks centre Sosaia Feki from scoring be deemed a grade one charge, Slater would be hit with a 200-point penalty, meaning even an early guilty plea wouldn’t allow him to start in Sunday’s decider.
Slater called it a “collision” but said there was no malice in it and had no idea what it meant for his Grand Final fate.
“I was just coming across at speed and I actually thought Sosaia Feki was going to step back on the inside and it was just a collision at the end,” Slater told Channel Nine.
“Both players were running at speed to get to a position and it would have been an awkward place to put my head if I had to duck it down.
“There was no malice in that I don’t think.”
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Slater will know his fate as soon as Saturday afternoon with the NRL match review commitee to pass judgment withing 24 hours of the incident.
Twitter exploded after the Slater shot, with plenty moving quickly to rule him out, which would prematurely end a brilliant career.
A judgment against Slater is anything but a lock.
What debate won’t rage about however is the supreme effort of Slater in front of more than 26,000 fans in another epic finals effort from the two-time Clive Churchill medallist.
Slater is retiring after enduring back-to-back shoulder reconstructions which required the sort of desire and character to come back that few players have.
But there are few players like Slater, as he showed at AAMI Park with a stunning opening half that included 151 run metres, eight tackle busts, two line breaks, one try assist, two try saves, and two tries of his own.
It was staggering to see the 35-year-old playing at a level seemingly beyond everyone else on the field.
He’d steeled himself for a final goodbye to Melbourne, his last match in the city he’s made his home.
But this performance was something else. An exclamation mark more than a full stop.
It’s now up to the NRL to decide if it was the best ever last game anyone has ever played.
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Originally published as Billy Slater shoulder charge overshadows Storm surge to NRL grand final
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