NRL judiciary: Maika Sivo banned for four games, Jarrod Wallace cleared
The Eels have taken a big hit at the judiciary with a star winger set to miss an extended period, while it’s better news for Dolphins fans. Get the latest NRL judiciary news here.
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The Eels have suffered a major blow with powerhouse winger Maika Sivo set to miss four games after he unsuccessfully tried to have his grade two careless high tackle charge reduced at the NRL judiciary on Tuesday night.
Sivo could have accepted a three-game ban if he’d taken the early guilty plea, but the club chose to roll the dice with the winger facing a fine if they’d been able to have the charge downgraded.
However, the panel of Henry Perenara and Bob Lindner – who appeared via video link – found him guilty of a grade two offence after just a 10 minute deliberation which means he’ll miss four games in a huge blow to Parramatta’s top eight chances.
The Eels are currently seventh on 24 competition points and travel to Townsville this week to face a Cowboys side that will leapfrog them with a win.
The Sivo news came hours after Parramatta teammate Reagan Campbell-Gillard pleaded guilty to a grade three dangerous contact charge that will also see him miss four matches.
“I’m disappointed with the outcome but I respect the decision,” Sivo said.
“I look forward to helping my teammates when I return.”
Sivo was sent to the sin bin on Sunday night for a high shot on Gold Coast’s Jojo Fifita who was able to continue playing.
Working against him was the fact that NRL head of football Graham Annesley sent a memo to all 17 clubs earlier in the year warning them that wingers would be punished if they jammed in and made contact to the head.
Defence counsel Nick Ghabar argued that the initial contact was Fifita’s right shoulder into Sivo’s upper chest and that the Titans centre had dropped his height which contributed to a low level of carelessness in the tackle.
“There was a very marginal level of carelessness,” he said, using a comparable Tolu Koula tackle from Round 13 as part of his defence.
The Sea Eagles centre copped a grade one charge for his high contact on Newcastle’s Kalyn Ponga, but Ghabar suggested that Koula’s force was far more significant.
NRL judiciary counsel Lachlan Gyles SC refuted that sentiment, arguing the force was not low but moderate, and that Sivo had made direct contact with the head and neck.
“The player’s head moves violently back like a whiplash. The Ponga tackle was quite different. His head doesn’t move backwards at all,” he said, pointing out there were no mitigating factors such as other tacklers being involved.
“The player was vulnerable and there was a moderate risk of injury.
“This is not an entry level careless high tackle.”
The Eels face a horror month without their suspended stars, with the pair to miss games against the Cowboys, Storm, Dragons and Broncos, with three of those away from home.
Earlier, the Dolphins discovered they are in safe hands after assistant coach Kristian Woolf had a big win at the judiciary, with Jarrod Wallace cleared of a shoulder charge that will see him free to play after this week’s bye.
Wallace was looking at a four-game ban if he’d been unsuccessful having already spent three weeks on the sidelines for a shoulder charge against the Warriors earlier in the year.
There wasn’t the same drama that the Reece Walsh hearing had last month, with the case taking less than an hour before Perenara and Lindner found the prop forward not guilty after a 35-minute deliberation.
Wallace was penalised in the first half of Sunday’s game against Penrith for a shoulder charge on Spencer Leniu, but Woolf successfully argued that it was the young forward’s footwork and the influence of Connelly Lemuelu in the tackle that prevented Wallace from executing a proper tackle technique.
“I’m not a legal representative, I’m a football coach and we’re coming at this from a football point of view,” Woolf said via video link.
“We don’t believe it’s a shoulder charge.
“I watch hundreds of tackles every single game, every week, and you’ll find that this type of tackle is very common.”
Woolf argued that his client was trying to “make a traditional tackle” and that he had every intention to use his left arm in a wrapping motion but couldn’t because it was hooked under Lemuelu’s arm.
The Dolphins assistant coach said Wallace risked a shoulder dislocation or an elbow hyperextension if he tried to put his left arm in front of his teammate, and that his body position remained square while a shoulder charge would require there to be some kind of rotation.
Gyles had earlier used nine angles to mount his case, describing the tackle as “a classic old school shoulder charge” and that there was no genuine attempt from Wallace to use his arms.
He argued that forceful contact had been made on Leniu which was “an inherently dangerous manner of conduct”, however the panel determined that Wallace’s ability to wrap his arms had been prevented by circumstances out of his control.
RCG’s monster ban, Tino’s shock plea
Parramatta prop Reagan Campbell-Gillard has pleaded guilty to a dangerous contact charge and will miss four games.
It is a crushing blow for an Eels side pushing hard for a finals finish.
Campbell-Gillard laid knees into the back of Titans player Chris Randall on Sunday.
The NSW forward was facing a five-match suspension had he fought and lost the charge at an NRL judiciary hearing.
Parramatta teammate Mika Sivo has pleaded guilty to a careless high tackle charge but will dispute the grading.
Sivo, who caught Gold Coast player Jojo Fifita high, was originally facing a three to four game suspension.
Gold Coast forward Tino Fa’asuamaleaui will plead guilty to a shoulder charge and be suspended for three games.
Dolphins forward Felise Kaufusi accepted a fine for a high tackle.
DOLPHINS TO FIGHT ENFORCER’S BAN
The Dolphins are set for a showdown with the NRL judiciary over Jarrod Wallace’s shoulder charge ban.
The Dolphins will argue the tackle on Spencer Leniu in Sunday’s loss to the Panthers was not a shoulder charge and are prepared to run the gauntlet of a potential four-match ban to get Wallace off the charge.
But the bigger picture issue here is that the Tuesday night hearing also has the potential to make a mockery of the entire match review process.
In a stunning example of just how out of whack system is, the tackle on Leniu was judged not worthy of a sin bin on the field and only resulted in a grade one charge.
But the reality is it could now cop the same four-match punishment as Reagan Campbell-Gillard’s grade three dangerous contact charge for his sickening knees in the back on Gold Coast’s Chris Randall.
A grade one shoulder charge usually results in a fine and not a suspension for a first offence.
But given this is Wallace’s third and subsequent offence, the three match ban comes into effect for the early guilty plea, or four matches if the player fights the charge and loses.
Wallace was only playing his second game back after serving a three-match suspension for a grade two shoulder charge on the Warriors’ Rocco Berry back in round 14.
There were many who felt Wallace was harshly treated copping three weeks for that incident, given there were multiple players in the tackle.
Billy Slater argued at the time: “When those forwards are making dual contact and sometimes there’s three in the tackle and they’re in proximity, it’s near-impossible to wrap your arm around,” Slater added.
“It’s a really tough one. Obviously it was unfortunate that there was a head collision and the player who was running the football didn’t end up in a great way, but I think he’s pretty hard done by.”
But that has added to the pain given Wallace could now be rubbed out until round 26.
$3 MILLION OF EELS’ TALENT SIDELINED AS JUDICIARY STRIKES
Heavy bans handed down to Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Maika Sivo mean Parramatta will be forced to fight for its NRL finals survival with close to $3m of the Eels’ salary cap sidelined through suspension or injury.
It comes after the NRL match review committee came down hard on Campbell-Gillard and Sivo who are facing a combined seven matches out if they cop early guilty pleas for ugly incidents in Sunday’s one-point win over Gold Coast.
In what could be a potential hammer blow to the top eight hopes of last year’s grand finalists, Campbell-Gillard is facing four weeks if he pleads guilty for his sickening knees in the back on Gold Coast’s Chris Randall, while Sivo will be rubbed out for three weeks if he doesn’t contest a grade two careless high tackle on Titans centre Jojo Fifita.
Campbell-Gillard will get five weeks if he unsuccessfully fights the charge, while Sivo will cop four weeks if found guilty at the judiciary.
The Eels having until Tuesday to enter pleas.
The double blow comes at the worst possible time as the Eels prepare to embark on a run home from hell that kicks off against the inform Cowboys in Townsville on Saturday.
That will be followed by the Storm in Melbourne the following round before a run to September that includes games against the Dragons (h), Broncos (a), Roosters (h) and Panthers (a) before the final round bye.
Sivo’s first game back is likely to be against the Broncos in round 24, while Campbell-Gillard is not due back at the earliest until round 25 against the Roosters.
Factor in the Eels will also be without star five-eighth Dylan Brown until the Broncos game after pleading guilty to two charges of sexual touching without consent.
Veteran dummy half Josh Hodgson is also sidelined indefinitely with a neck injury, while highly-paid outside back Waqa Blake has been making his way back through NSW Cup after a recovering from a knee injury.
The five of them account for about one quarter of the Eels’ total salary cap.
Brown is the highest paid Eel on the list on a reported $800,000 ahead of Campbell-Gillard $750,000, Blake $650,000, Hodgson $450,000 and Sivo $400,000.
There is a chance Blake could get recalled this week to cover for Sivo, although Haze Dunster and Isaac Lumelume were both named on the extended bench last week.
The obvious contenders to take over from Campbell-Gillard are Ofahiki Ogden or Makahesi Makatoa.
Last year’s NRL runners up are currently seventh on the ladder but on equal competition points (24) with the eighth-placed Rabbitohs and ninth-placed Cowboys.
The Knights and Sea Eagles are the two others still in the finals fight on 21 competition points.
It’s been five years since the Cowboys were the last grand finalists to miss out on the eight back in 2018, while before that it was the Warriors in 2012 and Eels in 2010.
The NRL match review committee had no option but to come down hard on Campbell-Gillard who was lucky not to have been sent from the field immediately.
In our online poll, 88 per cent of more than 2,800 votes said he should have been marched for the match instead of escaping with a sin bin.
Campbell-Gillard has been in terrific form which saw him recalled for NSW in the dead rubber Origin win, while Sivo is equal third on the NRL tryscorers list with 16 for the season.
In a wild finish to round 20, Titans captain Tino Fa’asuamaleaui is also facing three weeks on the sidelines with the early guilty plea for a grade one shoulder charge on Campbell-Gillard, while Dolphins prop Jarrod Wallace will also be out of action for three weeks if he takes the guilty plea for a shoulder charge on Spencer Leniu.
The Warriors’ Rocco Berry can escape with a $1000 fine for a grade one dangerous throw on William Kennedy, while Dolphins backrower Felise Kaufusi is facing a $3000 fine for a grade one careless high tackle on Zac Hosking.
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