NRL 2023 Round 21 judiciary news: Nicho Hynes and Valentine Holmes cleared, Tariq Sims cops two-game ban
Cronulla star Nicho Hynes has ~ conduct charge, while a Storm enforcer has been banned. Check out all the NRL judiciary news.
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CRONULLA golden boy Nicho Hynes has avoided being charged by the NRL match review committee but was admonished on-field by a referee who “had enough” of his “complaining.”
The committee listened to on-field audio on Monday to determine what Hynes yelled at touch judge Belinda Sharpe during Sunday’s match against Manly but failed to identify any abusive language.
In the 63rd minute of the game, won 30-26 by Manly, Hynes was hauled before referee Peter Gough for clearly giving Sharpe a spray after a pass he threw was ruled forward.
The committee ruled Hynes had no case to answer but NRL head of elite football operations Graham Annesley gave reasons why Gough was so strong in his wording to the Sharks star.
“My understanding is that he (Gough) reacted quite strongly because he felt Nicho had been complaining about decisions on multiple occasions during the course of the game and he’d had enough of it at that stage,” Annesley said.
“The match review committee have reviewed the video and audio and spoke with the official concerned and there’s no evidence of any untoward language used and no offence taken by the officials in relation to what was said.
“Players are always going to be upset when decisions don’t go their way.”
Annesley said he did not feel a need to send Hynes a reminder about on-field expectations.
“That’s not for me to do,” Annesley said. “I’m sure players are aware of their responsibilities and coaches work with players on their discipline. I will leave that to the coach to handle.”
Hynes was however charged with tripping and faces a fine of between $1000 and $1500 depending on whether he pleads guilty.
The on-field drama with match officials blew up after Hynes threw a long ball to Sharks winger Sione Katoa, who crossed to score untouched, but it was ruled forward, the call coming from Sharpe.
Frustrated at the decision, Hynes walked directly toward Sharpe and held up three fingers, appearing to indicate it was the third call he disagreed with during the game.
'You do not have the right to talk to me or my team in any manner'
— Fox League (@FOXNRL) July 23, 2023
Hynes could find himself in hot water after a frustrated outburst directed at touch judge Belinda Sharpe...https://t.co/wbPj4KNy6d
Hynes yelled at Sharpe before Gough intervened and demanded the Cronulla star stop verballing match officials.
As he walked towards Gough, Hynes again held up three fingers.
“Nicho, Nicho, come here,” Gough yelled at Hynes. “Don’t say another word. Hey, don’t walk away from me. Come here.
“You do not have the right to talk to me or my team in any manner. Do it again and you’ll find yourself off the field. Enough.”
Hynes protested to Gough, saying: “What did I say? I said that’s three.”
Asked whether he was comfortable at how Gough to Hynes, Annesley said: “Yes. It was fine.”
Hynes is free to play in Cronulla’s big game against Penrith at BlueBet Stadium this Saturday night.
Star’s huge judiciary win, Storm enforcer banned
-Fatima Kdouh
Firebrand Melbourne forward Tariq Sims has been whacked with a two-game ban for a swinging arm on Newcastle halfback Jackson Hastings.
The NRL’s match review committee charged Sims with a grade two careless high tackle on Hastings in the Storm’s 26-18 loss to the Knights on Saturday.
The brain explosion was a turning point in the match for the Storm.
Melbourne were leading 12-4 before Sims was sent to the sinbin in the 36th minute. The Knights capitalised on the one-man advantage scoring two tries through Greg Marzhew and Lachlan Fitzgibbon while Sims was off the field.
Sims was also facing a nervous wait on a crusher type tackle, also on Hastings, but was cleared of any wrongdoing by the MRC.
But he did not escape an illegal tackle on Knights forward Mat Croker. Sims was hit with a $3,000 fine, with an early plea, for a grade one shoulder charge on Croker.
Storm hooker Harry Grant will be free to take on the Parramatta Eels on Friday night after he was penalised and placed on report when his knees made contact with the back of Phoenix Crossland.
Both players were contesting a grubber kick that Crossland got to first, when Grant’s knees then hit Crossland in the back.
Grant was charged with grade one dangerous contact but will be free to take the field with an early plea, and a $1,000 fine.
Grant is no doubt a relieved man on Sunday given the MRC hit Parramatta forward Reagan Campbell Gillard with a four-week ban last week for a grade three dangerous contact charge when his knees collected the back of Newcastle’s Chris Randall.
North Queensland centre Valentine Holmes won’t spend any time on the sideline after he was sin-binned for a controversial incident involving Eels halfback Mitchell Moses on Saturday night.
Holmes will be free to continue the Cowboys’ charge to the final this weekend against the Gold Coast Titans after he was hit with a $1,800 fine for a grade one careless high tackle on Moses.
Holmes was sin-binned for the high shot but Moses was allowed to stay on the field and avoided a head injury assessment despite the bunker ruling the hit was ‘direct and forceful’.
Parramatta’s Ryan Matterson was also charged from the same match with grade one dangerous contact on Cowboys backrower Luciano Leilua. Matterson will be free to take on Melbourne with the charge drawing a $3,000 fine with an early plea.
Eels outside back Waqa Blake is also facing a $1,500 fine, with an early plea, for a grade one shoulder charge on Peta Hiku.
COWBOYS’ COSTLY WIN OVER EELS
– Patrick Woods
The Cowboys will finish the weekend inside the top eight after trampling the Parramatta Eels 24-16 to claim their sixth straight victory as Jake Granville celebrated his 200th game.
Since losing to the Eels eight weeks ago North Queensland has picked up the maximum 16 competition points and surged from second-last to seventh.
The Eels looked out of sorts and struggled to build any serious pressure while missing too many tackles as the Cowboys stamped their authority on the match.
It went from bad to worse for Parramatta when Shaun Lane suffered a sickening injury when he dived on a ball to stop Chad Townsend scoring, dislocating his left elbow in the process.
COWBOYS FORWARDS TAKE TOLL
Jeremiah Nanai left the field in the first minute of the second half clutching at his shoulder and went straight up the tunnel into the sheds.
Griffin Neame had suffered a concussion before halftime and failed his HIA, leaving just two players on the interchange for the entire second half.
Jeremiah Nanai won’t return after right shoulder injury - video not great, but seemed to fall in tackle directly on shoulder. Brings concern for AC joint injury, just have to hope no fracture because if so many return in 2-4 weeks pic.twitter.com/LFUQaCrNNQ
— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) July 22, 2023
The saving grace for the Cowboys is that Heilum Luki is expected to make his return from a facial fracture in the next fortnight.
In a troubling night for injuries, Eels big man Shaun Lane dislocated his elbow in a horror accident halfway through the second half.
DOES HOLMES HAVE ANYTHING TO ANSWER FOR?
Valentine Holmes was sin binned in the dying stages of the first half for a bone-crunching hit on Mitch Moses that was initially called play-on by referee Grant Atkins, but after Moses challenged the call bunker official Chris Butler deemed there was forceful and direct contact to the head.
Boos rang around the stadium as Holmes was called over by Atkins, who crossed his arms before raising his 10 fingers in an action NRL fans are getting all too used to.
Fox League commentator Michael Ennis was surprised that independent doctors didn’t remove Moses from the field after the incident.
"As soon as we saw the whiplash, it was all over."
— Fox League (@FOXNRL) July 22, 2023
Valentine Holmes was sent to the sin bin for this hit!
📺 Watch #NRLCowboysEels on ch.502 or stream on Kayo: https://t.co/JFFu9aqOLQ
âœï¸ BLOG https://t.co/DDiZlUfOqh
🔢 MATCH CENTRE https://t.co/9DnmraDAeJpic.twitter.com/TaZbI8NIlZ
“With the force that Holmes came in, if he had direct contact to the head, Mitch Moses is out of the game,” Ennis said.
The hit looked similar to a tackle on Manly’s Haumole Olakau’atu that Holmes was lauded for last week, but he now faces a nervous wait for the judiciary.
With his eight-point haul, Holmes became only the third Cowboy to score 600 for the club after Johnathan Thurston (2,182) and Josh Hannay (882).
Playing in his 73rd game for North Queensland, Holmes reached the historic milestone faster than both Thurston (95) and Hannay (110).
DROUGHT OVER: KNIGHTS SNAP HORROR EIGHT-YEAR STORM HOODOO
—Michael Carayannis
Just days after they were linked with Des Hasler the Knights not only showed they were playing for coach Adam O’Brien but have kept their finals hopes alive with an upset victory against Melbourne.
O’Brien has been under immense pressure after the Knights season looked all but over when they won just two of nine games.
The poor results culminated in an indirect approach to Hasler which further created speculation that O’Brien’s time as Newcastle coach could be coming to an end.
Instead they are now marching towards what seemed an unlikely finals appearance which would be O’Brien’s third in four years in charge.
Since Newcastle’s horror mid-season stretch they have gone on to win three consecutive games for the first time since 2021.
Their two previous wins were against competition easy beats Canterbury and Wests Tigers but this
victory against the Storm has given Newcastle real credibility.
They sit in 10th spot and within striking distance of the top eight.
“I believe so,” O’Brien said of his team playing final football. “I’ve said a number of times this week that our best footy has held up against Penrith and Brisbane. We didn’t win those games but played quite well. The narrative was that the (opposition teams) were off but we never believed that. In reality the group didn’t get the credit they deserve.
“We’ve been consistent. The leadership group has been constant. Only one game this year we have been unhappy with. The rest of the year we’ve competed hard. There are good foundations. We didn’t panic ourselves. Our training has been excellent.”
Newcastle fell behind 12-0 after just 10 minutes but fought their way back to lead 18-12 at halftime.
Their run home presents an opportunity for Newcastle to navigate. They take on fellow top eight hopeful Canberra before games against Dolphins, Bulldogs, South Sydney, Cronulla and St George Illawarra,
“We’ve come a long way in terms of our resilience,” O’Brien said. “We are a tougher footy team. We are maturing. We didn’t panic behind the line. We didn’t go into our shell or hit flight mode. We stayed in the fight … We have an important game against Canberra to keep this going.”
Storm coach Craig Bellamy said the Knights had the potential of a finals side.
TEDDY SILENCES CRITICS AS REAL ROOSTERS FINALLY STAND UP
—Travis Meyn
James Tedesco silenced his critics following his Byron Bay getaway to keep the Roosters’ finals hopes alive in a 36-18 thrashing of the Gold Coast Titans on Saturday afternoon.
Tedesco was back to his brilliant best at Cbus Super Stadium as the Roosters continued their seven-year winning streak against the Titans.
Sitting 14th with a 7-10 record before the game, the Roosters needed to win to have any chance of playing finals this season.
And they did it in style, blitzing the Titans to open up a 36-0 lead and put their NRL rivals on notice that the chooks are not yet cooked.
“That was always going to be the case,” Robinson said of Tedesco’s masterclass.
“The discussions around him have been hanging around for a while. It’s really disappointing. Why was there a discussion this week?
“It was my call (to give him a break). He came back and played the way he plays. He was a bit fresher and the biggest difference in the game today.
“It’s disappointing when someone gets personally attacked … but that’s our game, I guess.
“We played with a bit more freedom than we have in a while then we had to dig deep defensively to take the game away.”
The Roosters won their last eight games of the 2022 regular season to rocket into the finals, where they were knocked out in week one by South Sydney in a spiteful affair.
They may need to produce something similar this year to feature in the play-offs and certainly have the strike power to go on a run with Tedesco back in form.
CRUCIAL ERROR COSTS RAIDERS AS WARRIORS SURVIVE THRILLER
—Matt Jones
They almost blew it, but the Warriors all but wrapped up a top four spot after a golden point win over the Raiders in Auckland.
The Warriors were in control for the whole match and led 20-10 before the Raiders scored two tries in the final two minutes to set up an unlikely win.
A deep kick in golden point gave the Warriors a seven-tackle set however and they professionally marched the ball down field for Shaun Johnson to kick the winning field goal.
And the players gave their coach Andrew Webster a little bit of confidence minutes before the field goal.
“I told them it was all about putting pressure on the opposition and finding the right kick and they did,” Webster said.
“They were saying to me ‘Webby, we’ve got this’.
“The first set in golden point was excellent and then we had three good carries then Shaun did the rest.
“The lesson is we can’t relieve pressure when we’ve got the foot on the throat.”
“I don’t think we won ugly. There was so much good stuff and when you get yourself into trouble you’ve got to know how to get yourself out of it.”
The 21-20 win saw the Warriors leapfrog the Raiders into fourth spot and it’s hard to see how they’ll finish any lower than that given their draw.
The Warriors have the bye next week then their next five games are against teams running 10th or lower.
On form, the Warriors should win every game in the run to the finals and a top two finish would suddenly be a possibility.
While the Warriors are as good as a top four side, their coach Andrew Webster is a lock for Coach of the Year.
“Every good team improves each week from now on and we need to be one of those teams,” Webster said.
“If we were struggling with the pressure, we wouldn’t have gone on to win in golden point.”
CRANKY RICKY
Raiders coach Ricky Stuart was critical of a no try call against his side right on halftime.
Raiders fullback Sebastian Kris regathered a chip kick and was set to put the ball down before Dallin Watene-Zelezniak made a tackle to force a drop ball.
But Stuart said it was an illegal one.
“It should never have got to golden point.” Stuart said.
“In regards to that decision with Seb Kris right before halftime, it was a high shot and it should’ve been a penalty try.”
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