NRL Tackle Round 3 2022: Paul Crawley’s likes and dislikes, NRL admits blunder on Nelson Asofa-Solomona
The NRL concedes Nelson Asofa-Solomona should have copped a far more serious punishment than the slap on the wrist handed out by the match review committee.
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Round 3 of the 2022 NRL delivered several nailbiting results and plenty of controversy.
PAUL CRAWLEY reveals his likes and dislikes.
PLUS: Scroll down for the Dally M voting from Round 3, and the leaderboard through the early rounds.
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DISLIKES
The NRL believes Melbourne’s Nelson Asofa-Solomona should have been sin binned and be facing up to two weeks on the sideline for a high shot on Parramatta’s Makahesi Makatoa.
Instead the Storm forward has accepted an early plea on a grade one careless high tackle charge, which only attracts a $1,000 fine.
But on Monday, the game’s head of football Graham Annesley revealed the match review committee deemed Asofa-Solomona’s contact with Makatoa’s head as ‘low to moderate’, a ruling ‘NRL management’ did not agree with.
Annesley said Asofa-Solomona should have been charged with a grade two careless high tackle.
Under the NRL’s new judiciary system, a grade two careless high tackle carries a two week suspension if found guilty or one week on the sideline if an early plea is taken.
“Our view of this particular incident is that we think the referee should have put Nelson in the sinbin for the incident and we are confident that the match review committee has been through the right process, that they have considered all the right factors but we don’t think they have placed enough emphasis on the the degree of force,” Annesley said.
“They have assessed the level of force as low to moderate, in management we are of the view that the level of force was more than that.
“We think that level of force was enough to push the charge into the grade two category.
“In this particular instance, we feel the circumstance of the tackle should have warranted a grade two charge. The match review felt a grade one for the reasons they have indicated. We disagree with them on this account.
Asofa Solomona extremely lucky to escape with just a fine for this shot pic.twitter.com/hxyP5jywhp
— BUZZ ROTHFIELD (@BuzzRothfield) March 27, 2022
Match review committee manager Luke Patten released a statement explaining ‘a clear and quick drop in height’ from Makatoa contributed to Asofa-Solomona making contact with the head of the Eels forward.
“A high tackle by Melbourne Storm player Nelson Asofa-Solomona on Eels player Makahesi Makatoa in the 53rd minute was reviewed and charged,” Patten said.
“The contact was made by player Asofa-Solomona’s right arm to the back part of Makahesi Makatoa’s head as he was falling to the ground. In relation to the key grading indicators, we assess the force as low to moderate with player Makahesi Makatoa falling backwards, player Asofa-Solomona contributing to the force in the tackle.
“Player Asofa-Solomona’s actions were deemed as careless whilst the risk of injury was assessed as low, with player Makahesi Makatoa getting to his feet and playing the ball quickly.
“There is a clear and quick drop in height from Makahesi Makatoa as he is tackled by two other Storm players, this mitigating factor was taken into account when assessing the final grading.”
The key grading indicators used by the match review committee include force, risk of injury and intention. Those factors then have to be graded as low, moderate or high.
The match review committee then must consider a number of aggravating or mitigating factors.
Aggravating factors include injury to a player, direct contact to the head and neck, no ability for the player to protect themselves.
Mitigating factors, which were used to lessen the charge for Asofa-Solomona include other players impacting the outcome, contact not being direct and the attacking player dropping significantly in the tackle.
Annesley was also quick to point out that while he did not agree with the grade one charge, the NRL was not ‘critical’ of the match review committee process.
“We’re not critical of them for the process they went through or the way they have applied their thought processes to all of the factors required to consider under our rules. We don’t agree with their judgement in relation to the degree of force, we believe it was greater than they have adjudicated,” Annesley said.
— Fatima Kdouh
PAUL CRAWLEY’S TAKE
Parramatta are privately filthy over the grading of Nelson Asofa-Solomona’s shocking high shot on Makahesi Makatoa.
The controversial tackle has also highlighted glaring inconsistencies over what constitutes a sin bin and what doesn’t after Asofa-Solomona stayed on the field after being placed on report during Parramatta’s win over Melbourne.
Many feel it’s a blatant unfairness relating to the haves and have nots in the competition.
Every bit as puzzling as the handling of the tackle during the game was the match review committee’s decision on Sunday to deem Asofa-Solomona’s tackle a grade one careless, allowing him to escape with a $1000 fine with an early guilty plea.
That decision has enraged the Eels.
What the NRL can’t allow is to have it continuing to appear as though there are rules for some and rules for others when it comes to who gets sin binned, cops suspensions and who doesn’t.
And how on earth anyone could argue Jaydn Su’A’s high shot on Dale Finucane on Thursday was more worthy of a sin bin than the incident involving Asofa-Solomona on Makatoa on Saturday is beyond me.
In Su’A’s case, the St George Illawarra enforcer clearly hit Finucane high, and while it was careless rather than intentional, under the current guidelines it was certainly worthy of sin bin consideration.
Yet it was not in the same ball park as Asofa-Solomona’s inexcusable attack on Makatoa that was not sin binned.
GOLDEN POINT FREE-FOR-ALL
Letting players swarm the ruck to take pressure off kickers lining up a field goal is not outlawed, but it should be.
Parramatta exposed the loophole again in the golden point win over Melbourne when dummy half Reed Mahoney was almost in a panic calling on Nathan Brown and Reagan Campbell-Gillard to get in place and put a buffer around the play-the-ball area where Junior Paulo was also standing before Mitchell Moses’s attempted field goal.
The rule stipulates it’s okay to provide protection as long as the attacking team don’t stand side-by-side to prevent the defender a clear run.
Of course, every team does it but that doesn’t make it right.
In this instance the ball ultimately bounced off the posts and into the waiting hands of unlikely hero Ray Stone who raced over for the match clinching try.
But I’d love someone to show me how Brandon Smith wasn’t impeded back at the ruck as he tried to make his way through the Parramatta chicanes.
WHERE DOES ALL THIS ANGER COME FROM?
An incident over-looked in the wake of the Rabbitohs’ stunning victory over the Roosters was a heated confrontation between Cody Walker and Joey Manu after fulltime.
The two exchanged words with Walker clearly angry, and Manu looking bewildered.
It got to the point where Roosters prop Lindsay Collins had to step in to make sure it didn’t go to the next level.
Walker certainly looked ready to take it up a notch.
Although no one can be sure what the blow up was over, I struggle to comprehend how anyone at the Rabbitohs could possibly feel any animosity towards Manu for getting his face smashed in.
WHY DIDN’T BUNKER ACT ON TIGERS’ TRAVESTY?
The NRL’s officiating system is broken when referee Ziggy Przeklasa-Adamski’s decision not to send a possible Luciano Leilua try to the bunker can go unchecked.
NRL head of football Graham Annesley conceded over the weekend it was the “wrong” call, laying the blame squarely at the inexperienced Przeklasa-Adamski’s feet.
“By no means am I trying to justify it, but he’s only in his third game as a single referee, but the only way people get experience is to bring them into play – much like a player,” Annesley said.
That still doesn’t explain or excuse why the bunker did not act when it was clear to everyone watching the game that it was worthy of a review.
A lot of it comes down to a bunker backlash that’s been brewing for years, with the narrative that the video referee is too involved.
But this was an avoidable error because the technology is there to properly support on-field referees and reduce howlers.
Former referee and Roosters premiership fullback Luke Phillips said on social media that he would have awarded the Tigers a four-pointer.
TIME FOR TIGERS TO MAKE TOUGH CALL
If Luke Brooks wants out, it’s time for the Tigers to let him go and give Jock Madden a chance to forge his NRL career.
Although they were slighted over the Leilua ‘no try’, the Tigers had another 60 minutes, 10 of those against 12 men, to make amends for that referee howler.
When winger Marcelo Montoya was sin-binned with 11 minutes remaining, the Warriors looked cooked as they clung to a four-point lead.
Where was Brooks in this period, the $850,000 playmaker, the chief organiser?
Coach Michael Maguire leapt to Brooks’ defence pre-game, declaring the maligned halfback could make representative teams at the Tigers. How can that be remotely true when he couldn’t orchestrate a decent scoring opportunity against a 12-man Warriors team?
In Madden’s defence he did everything he could to try and make a difference, running for 118m including two try assists.
At least he has two more games to show his worth to rival clubs before Jackson Hastings returns from suspension.
BUNKER DOCTOR OUT OF HIS LEAGUE
The situation that led to Kurt Mann being forced from the field for a head injury assessment after copping a knock “in the balls” again exposes how laughable it is having an independent doctor in the bunker and not on the sideline at the ground.
The replay clearly showed where the Newcastle lock copped the knock, yet Mann still had to leave the field before later telling ABC Sport: “They were looking at the wrong head. I got kicked in the balls.”
Benji Marshall said on Fox: “It is going to cost a team at some stage”.
PLAY-THE-BALL CRACKDOWN GOES QUIET
What has happened to the play-the-ball crackdown?
During the trials and opening round the NRL seemed intent on making sure all players at least made an attempt to use their foot.
Now three rounds in the so-called crackdown has died a sudden death.
There were countless examples over the weekend of incidents that would have been penalised two weeks back.
What was the point of starting a crackdown when they obviously had no intention of making a permanent change?
BRONCOS PACK GO MISSING
The Broncos forwards should be embarrassed about what they dished up in front of a big home crowd at Suncorp Stadium.
Quite simply, they copped a hiding.
And the fact they did it in a heritage jersey would have the old Broncos greats shaking their heads in disbelief.
Not even Alfie in his heyday would have got the Broncos home on the back of that performance. So to expect Adam Reynolds to do it is just ridiculous. That is not how rugby league works.
Where was the energy and commitment they’d showed in the opening two rounds? The desire and desperation they played with against Souths and the Bulldogs?
Yes, there is no question Reynolds was out gunned by his opposite playmaking recruit Chad Townsend.
But they were outplayed across the park. In the forwards and the backs. Look at the difference between Valentine Holmes and Kotoni Staggs as another example.
Now they all have to dust themselves off and just get on with it so all of the good work to start the season isn’t wasted.
They have the Warriors at Redcliffe next Saturday followed by a return to Suncorp to face the Roosters and then a trip to Penrith to take on the premiers.
What the Broncos can’t afford is to get swallowed in the same hole that has gobbled them up in recent years. It starts with the forwards and it starts with defence. That’s not a halfback’s job. That’s a team.
DALLY M VOTING - ROUND 3
DRAGONS v SHARKS
Judge: Roy Masters
3 – Nicho Hynes (CRO)
2 – Siosifa Talakai (CRO)
1 – Ben Hunt (STG)
TIGERS V WARRIORS
Judge: Luke Lewis
3 – Reece Walsh (WAR)
2 – Josh Curran (WAR)
1 – Oliver Gildart (WST)
RABBITOHS V ROOSTERS
Judge: Andrew Johns
3 – Cameron Murray (STH)
2 – Cody Walker (STH)
1 – Damien Cook (STH)
PANTHERS v KNIGHTS
Judge: Brett Kimmorley
3 – Isaah Yeo (PEN)
2 – Jarome Luai (PEN)
1 – Taylan May (PEN)
STORM v EELS
Judge: David Shillington
3 – Ryan Papenhuyzen (MEL)
2 – Dylan Brown (PAR)
1 – Clint Gutherson (PAR)
RAIDERS v TITANS
Judge: Greg Alexander
3 – Jack Wighton (CBR)
2 – Tino Fa’asuamaleaui (GCT)
1 – Tom Starling (CBR)
BRONCOS v COWBOYS
Judge: Gary Belcher
3 – Jeremiah Nanai (NQC)
2 – Valentine Holmes (NQC)
1 – Tom Dearden (NQC)
SEA EAGLES v BULLDOGS
Judge: Scott Sattler
3 – Daly Cherry-Evans (MAN)
2 – Tom Trbojevic (MAN)
1 – Jeremy Marshall-King (CAN)
LEADERBOARD
9 votes - Isaah Yeo
7 - Ryan Papenhuyzen
6 - Jack Wighton, Jake Clifford, Nicho Hynes
5 - Josh Curran, Mitchell Moses
4 - Ben Hunt
3 - Beau Fermor, Cameron Murray, Daly Cherry-Evans, Harry Grant, Jeremiah Nani, Herbie Farnworth, Jahrome Hughes, Jason Taumalolo, Luke Thompson, Payne Haas, Reece Walsh, Sam Walker
LIKES
ILIAS IGNITES AHEAD OF GRAND FINAL REMATCH
The performance of Lachlan Ilias couldn’t have come at a better time ahead of Friday night’s grand final rematch against premiers Penrith.
Ilias, 21, came into South Sydney’s match against the Sydney Roosters under massive pressure, not only as the man to replace Adam Reynolds but also play a lead role in coach Jason Demetriou’s new era.
He took control and allowed Cody Walker to play his natural game and bounce back to his best form after a couple of ordinary weeks to start the season. Walker needed a confidence boost almost as much as Ilias, having thrown a couple of intercept passes and looking a little hesitant, and Ilias played a big role in helping him.
Nothing will get Souths players behind you more than sticking it to bitter rivals the Roosters, and now Ilias has another huge task with the likely return of Panthers captain Nathan Cleary.
LATEST ADDITION TO PANTHERS’ PRODUCTION LINE
They just keep rolling them out. First it was rookie Izack Tago in the centres, playing like he’s always been there. And Sean O’Sullivan filling in admirably for Nathan Cleary.
Now it’s Taylan May, who scored a hat-trick in his first game replacing NSW Origin winger Brian To’o.
The younger brother of former Panther Tyrone May looked at home on the flank in Penrith’s 38-20 win over Newcastle in Bathurst, for a side missing eight members of their grand final team.
BRADMAN’S BEST EXPOSES BLUES’ CONUNDRUM
If all players are fit heading into State of Origin it will be Tom Trbojevic and Latrell Mitchell in the NSW centres again.
But behind them is a conga line of talent that may have to wait years to get a crack in the rep arena behind the two blokes who play fullback every week.
Bradman Best, still only 20, is a great example.
Finally fit after a couple of injury-ruined seasons, Best was a beast against Penrith, scoring a brilliant try and reminding everyone of his immense potential.
Throw in the likes of Kotoni Staggs, Stephen Crichton, Zac Lomax, Campbell Graham, Jesse Ramien and, of course, Matt Burton (who was the Dally M centre of the year last season but is now playing in the halves).
But back on Newcastle, the Knights potentially have the best centre combination in the NRL with Dane Gagai on Best’s opposite side.
Penrith have Crichton and Izack Tago, the Roosters boast Joey Manu and Paul Momirovski, then there’s Brisbane’s Staggs and Herbie Farnworth and Melbourne’s Justin Olam and Reimis Smith.
But you wouldn’t think Knights coach Adam O’Brien would swap his pair for anyone.
VALEMEI’S HEARTWARMING FULLTIME GIVEAWAY
After producing a ground shaking hit on Gold Coast’s AJ Brimson that put the exclamation point on Canberra’s sensational comeback victory, young Fijian Semi Valemei stood on the sidelines literally giving fans the clothes off his body.
Standing on the sidelines taking selfies with fans, Valemei decided to throw in his boots for good measure.
Then off came the jumper.
In Fox commentary Braith Anasta quipped: “Don’t take your pants off, you’ll have nothing left”.
“THAT’S WHAT YOU GET FOR FOXING”
Congratulations to Wests Tigers forward Alex Seyfarth for calling bull***t on the Warriors’ Chanel Harris-Tavita Olympic-class diving attempt.
It’s really become a blight on the game how so many players these days stay down for the most minor incidents to try and milk a penalty.
But at least Seyfarth called it for what it was when Harris-Tavita did it on Friday night, giving him an absolute mouthful.
To rub the salt in Harris-Tavita was forced from the field for a HIA without getting the penalty.
In commentary Steve “Blocker” Roach chimed in: “That’s what you get for foxing”.
COURAGE ON SHOW ACROSS NRL
Cameron Murray’s effort for the Rabbitohs’ on Friday night summed up perfectly why he was the right man to take over from Adam Reynolds.
It was so humbling how Murray sat there at the media conference making light of the blood smeared all over his head and neck, saying “it looks worse than it is”, and apologising for not cleaning himself up before he fronted the media.
It was later revealed the nasty gash right in the top of his head was that big it required eight stitches.
Meanwhile, down in the nation’s capital on Saturday night Jack Wighton again showed what he means to the Raiders.
It was the biggest comeback in the club’s history and it’s not a stretch to liken Wighton’s gutsy effort to the type of inspiration Laurie Daley gave the Raiders back in his day.
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