High tackle ‘brain fade’ sparks wild all-in brawl between Sharks and Dragons

The Cronulla and St George Illawarra local derby started in spiteful fashion after an ugly incident sparked an all in scuffle.

There were bodies everywhere in the melee.

Cronulla Sharks centre Jesse Ramien was sin binned just 20 minutes into the local derby against the St George Illawarra Dragons after an ugly “brain fade”.

Ramien came in late as the Dragons’ Matt Dufty brought the ball back off his own line with a swinging arm catching the fullback on the back of the head.

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The ref blew the whistle immediately but the players went at it.

It was all hands on deck for the pushing and shoving, with even the Sharks left winger Ronaldo Mulitalo coming in and looking like he threw a punch, but grabbing one of the Dragons’ jerseys.

The bunker and the referee didn’t deal with it however but his involvement didn’t escape the views of the Fox League commentators.

“Ronaldo Mulitalo came from 60 or 70m away to get involved, he might have an issue,” Warren Smith said in commentary. “What Mulitalo was doing, coming in from the left wing, I’ll never know.”

On replay, it was clear the high shot from Ramien was the cause of the issue.

“It was a little high there,” Steve Roach said. “Ramien might be in a bit of trouble here.”

A swinging arm sparked an all-in brawl.

Jesse Ramien was sin binned.

The referee had no choice but to send Ramien to the sin bin, but the move also saw Dufty taken from the field for a head injury assessment after he slumped to the ground.

That’s a brain snap. No need for it. #turningpoint

— Phil Gould (@PhilGould15) March 14, 2021

Swinging arm. Dog act #NRLDragonsSharks

— John Dean (@JohnDean_) March 14, 2021

It was a heated clash between the traditional rivals but the Sharks took a 14-0 lead to the break and survived a second half comeback to win 32-18.