NRL 2022: Brandon Smith sent to judiciary for dissent, set for sideline stint
Brandon Smith is set for a long stint on the sidelines after allegedly calling a referee a cheat. Watch the vision of the incident here.
NRL
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Brandon Smith has been referred straight to the judiciary for comments he made to referee Adam Gee on Thursday night.
It is understood Smith called Gee a “cheat” during Melbourne’s loss to the Sharks. Gee sent Smith to the sin-bin for the second half tirade. Smith apologised to the referee after the match but is now facing a lengthy stint on the sidelines.
The Kiwi international may now be sidelined for at least a month unless he beats the charge.
Audio from the game has revealed Smith labelled Gee a “cheating bastard”. Storm skipper Jesse Bromwich then immediately asks what was said. “I’m not even going to repeat what he said,” Gee responds.
“I’ll tell you later off camera.”
Smith was heckled by Cronulla fans as he walked to the dressing rooms. He stopped to react before heading back into the sheds.
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Cronulla’s Briton Nikora has been hit with a grade two dangerous contact charge for a tackle on Melbourne’s Kenny Bromwich. Nikora will be suspended for one game with an early guilty plea.
Sharks teammate Andrew Fifita has been fined for a dangerous throw on Smith which resulted in Fifita being sin-binned in the dying stages.
Smith admits verbal sin as ‘off the charts’ Sharks maul Storm
- Adam Lucius
Brandon Smith was sensationally sin-binned for abusing referee Adam Gee as an out-of-sorts Melbourne crashed to an embarrassing 28-6 defeat to red-hot Cronulla at PointsBet Stadium.
The Storm were on the attack 20m out from the Sharks line midway through the second half when Gee penalised them and ordered Smith to the bin.
The Melbourne hooker was given a spray by the home crowd as he headed up the tunnel, turning around and appearing to remonstrate with someone before disappearing into the dressing room.
On-field audio was unable to detect exactly what Smith said but NRL officials confirmed the No.9 was marched for dissent. After the match, Smith admitted his brain snap.
“My mouth, it always gets me in trouble,” Smith said on Channel 9.
Stream every game of every round of the 2022 NRL Telstra Premiership Season Live & Ad-Break Free During Play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-days free now.
“I said some words to the ref that probably shouldn’t be said and got sent off, and rightly so. You are not allowed to do that stuff. I don’t want to repeat what I said.”
Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy was clearly unimpressed with Smith’s action and will let his feelings known to his firebrand hooker.
“I don’t know what exactly was said there but obviously we don’t want our players showing that sort of disrespect for the referees,” Bellamy said. “I don’t know why he would say something. We don’t want that and it won’t happen again.”
His exit ended any slim hope Storm had of pulling off a miracle escape, with Cronulla earning the top four scalp it so desperately needed and craved.
The Sharks led 20-0 at half-time and added two second half tries to end a five-game losing streak against Melbourne, beating a top four side for the first time this year.
Cronulla’s premiership credibility had been questioned on the back of a soft draw, but this performance sends a strong message they are into this competition up to their necks.
It was as good a performance as we’ve seen from a side this year, particularly the first 40 minutes. The home side repeatedly opened up the Storm on both edges and rocked them with aggressive in-your-face defence.
Both teams were missing key personnel, but Cronulla simply wanted it more and have now won four games on the trot.
The Storm are officially in a slump after conceding 64 points in consecutive losses.
Cronulla was at Melbourne from the get-go and didn’t drop the intensity.
The Storm were clearly rattled and found themselves chasing the game early.
Jesse Ramien gave the Sharks a 4-0 lead on 12 minutes following some lovely lead-up from Matt Moylan and Braydon Trindall following a quick play-the-ball.
Moylan laid on the next try for Blayke Brailey with a beautiful inside ball after beating the Storm defence off his left foot.
Ramien and Ronaldo Mulitalo scored before the break to make it 20-0 and there was no way back for the visitors.
They were marginally better in the second half but Sione Katoa’s try 13 minutes from the end pushed Cronulla past 20 points against the Storm for the first time since 2005.
The Sharks didn’t have a bad player but Moylan – arguably in career-best form — was outstanding.
Ramien and Trindall, a last-minute call-up for Nicho Hynes, also performed strongly, while Brailey was brilliant out of dummy half.
“We weren’t worried about making a statement — we were worried about improving as a team,” Sharks skipper Wade Graham said. “It’s good to be back home and good to put in a performance like that.”
DATE WITH DESTINY
It was time for the real Cronulla to stand up.
After a relatively soft draw in recent weeks, the challenges are now coming thick and fast for the Sharkies.
Melbourne kick-started a tough month, which continues over the next two rounds as Cronulla take on two more top four sides in the Cowboys and defending premiers Penrith.
Both those games are on the road.
They round off a tough itinerary against a desperate South Sydney in a match that could have a huge bearing on their top four hopes.
Does Craig Fitzgibbon’s team have what it takes to mix it with the best?
On the evidence of this performance, you would have to say yes.
MELBOURNE’S DEFENSIVE DEFIENCIES
What’s going on with Melbourne’s defence this year?
The purple wall has been more papier mache in 2022, leaking more frequently than the West Tigers. They have conceded 288 points – by far the worst of the top four teams.
They have now lost back-to-back games twice this season and will finish the round a massive eight points behind competition leaders Penrith.
The Storm are struggling on the injury front and were without rep trio Felise Kaufusi, Cam Munster and Harry Grant for the trip to the Shire, but it was still a very un-Melbourne-like display.
But unlike the previous week against the Sea Eagles, Bellamy was not in full-blown rant mode at Shark Park, preferring to praise the opposition rather than spray his own team.
“It was a tough night on the scoreboard but I thought our effort in the first half was pretty good,” he said. “Their footy was off the charts. We ran into a pretty hot side.”
Bellamy hasn’t ruled out adding to his roster after Ryan Papenhuyzen, Kenny Bromwich and Grant Anderson all finished the game with injuries, adding to the club’s long casualty list.
“It’s been a real tough year as far as injuries go and hopefully those guys are not too bad,” Bellamy said.
“We’ve got a little bit on the cap left and certainly got a spot in our 30 left, so we’ll probably have to do that (add to the roster).”
The Storm have a 10-day turnaround before hosting Canberra in round 18 at AAMI Park.
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