David Shillington has been labelled a “disgrace” for a stunning headbutt
DAVID Shillington became the first NRL player to be sent off in two years when he ‘lost it’ with a headbutt on Aaron Woods.
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IT was the most stunning brain snap of 2015 - and it could cost Raiders veteran David Shillington everything.
The former Kangaroos representative star may have played his final game for the Raiders after he was sent off for headbutting Wests Tigers forward Aaron Woods in Monday night’s entertaining 20-18 win by the Tigers in Canberra.
Fans are calling for Shillington - to be suspended for the remainder of 2015.
The 32-year-old is moving to the Gold Coast Titans next season.
Here’s how key figures in the NRL reacted to the shocking incident.
AARON WOODS
WESTS Tigers forward Aaron Woods clearly got under the skin of Shillington and was not afraid to gloat to the Raiders veteran about his psyche-out either.
“I just said to him congrats on the 200 games. You’ve just won us the game,” Woods told Triple M.
“Other than that it was all good. I couldn’t believe what he did. It was a bit of a brain snap from him so that will be his last game of the year.
“I don’t even know where it came from. I think he was a bit filthy that he dropped the ball.”
Woods then told The Daily Telegraph after the win that he dared Shillington to headbutt him.
“I gave him something to think about and then he tried to headbutt me,” Woods said.
“I said, ‘if you’re going to headbutt me, you might as well get me properly’. Then he missed again.
“It was all push and shove then.
“My hair was getting pulled, so I had my face down after that. That’s the bad thing about long hair.”
RICKY STUART
RAIDERS coach Ricky Stuartsaid he did not see Shillington headbutt Woods.
“I don’t know what he got sent off for,” Stuart said.
“I’ll have to have a look at it.
“We’re a brand new team, we get into tough periods of the game and we’re not good enough to close it out - we’re too impatient.
“We want to score off every set of six instead of playing percentage football.
“That comes with experience and more time playing with each other.”
JARROD CROKER
RAIDERS captain Jarrod Croker said he was told Shillington reacted so aggressively because of what Woods said before the scrum.
“I don’t know what happened there. I was under the influence that he was reacting to something that happened in the scrum. That’s all I know.”
ROBBIE FARAH
WESTS Tigers captain Robbie Farah said the referees had no choice but to send Shillington off.
“It was out of character for ‘Shillo’,’’ Farah said.
“It was a crucial error he made, and there was some frustration there. Woodsy had some words for him, they were trying to claim Woodsy threw a punch, but I didn’t see one.
“A headbutt is one of the worst things you can do on the footy field, and I thought the referee had no other choice but to send him off.’’
MATTHEW JOHNS
RUGBY league great Matthew Johns said the referee was right to give Shillington a straight send-off.
“The referee didn’t really have much of a choice there,” Johns told Fox Sports.
“It’s a brain snap.”
FANS
NRL fans flocked to Twitter after the match to condemn Shillington for his moment of lunacy.
David Shillington becomes the first player sent off in a @NRL match since Kade Snowden for Newcastle in Rnd 24, 2013 v NQL #NRLRaidersTigers
— Fox Sports Lab (@FoxSportsLab) August 10, 2015@RaidersCanberra David Shillington have played 200th and final game for Raiders after landing head butt on @WestsTigers Aaron Woods
— Chris Warren (@ChrisWarreNRL) August 10, 2015David Shillington is a DISGRACE!!! #NRLRaidersTigers
— Adam Houda (@LawyerAdamHouda) August 10, 2015Shilington has to go for a while for those headbutts #NRLRaidersTigers
— Dylan Matthews (@DylanMatthews91) August 10, 2015If Shillington gets less for that headbutt than the 2 weeks @mase21 got for bumping into Burgess, I give up on the NRL. #NRLRaidersTigers
— Nathan Webb (@nathanlwebb1980) August 10, 2015Originally published as David Shillington has been labelled a “disgrace” for a stunning headbutt
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