Ref could have sent two players off in Sharks’ win over Warriors, says NRL head of football

According to the NRL’s footy boss, the Sharks could consider themselves lucky that they didn’t have to play with 11 men for longer on Sunday.

Graham Annesley said the match officials could have sent Jesse Ramien off for his hit. Picture: AAP Image/James Gourley

The NRL‘s head of football Graham Annesley said the Cronulla Sharks could consider themselves lucky that a second player wasn’t sent off in Sunday’s miracle win over the New Zealand Warriors.

Annesley also confirmed the NRL would make a decision in “the next 24 hours or so” as to whether it would sanction the Parramatta Eels trainer who ran onto the field as Nathan Cleary attempted a conversion in Friday’s battle of the west.

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In the first half of the Sharks’ clash with the Warriors, the referee sent Cronulla fullback Will Kennedy from the field for a “coathanger” tackle on Reece Walsh.

Later in the game, his Sharks teammate Jesse Ramien spent 10 minutes in the sin bin for a shoulder charge on Euan Aitken. The Sharks managed to win the game 29-10 despite playing with 11 players for 10 minutes.

The match review committee categorised both hits as grade 3 careless high tackles, but as Ramien’s was his second offence, the centre was offered a more severe suspension (3-4 weeks depending on plea) than Kennedy (2-3 weeks).

Annesley said Ramien’s hit still deserved a harsh sanction, even if he was met with a more lenient punishment on-field than Kennedy.

“They’re both serious charges,” Annesley said on Monday.

“Could there have been other action taken in the case of the second incident (Ramien’s tackle)? Harsher action? Yes.

“But they didn’t escape action, (the Sharks) were down to 11 players at one point.”

The Sharks managed to beat the Warriors despite playing with 11 men for 10 minutes of the game. Picture: Supplied

Annesley said the match officials had a tough job policing illegal tackles in real time.

“The action taken by the match officials I think was reasonable based on the circumstances of each tackle,” he said.

“Would I have been unhappy if the second incident had resulted in a harsher on-field sanction (a send-off)? No, I wouldn’t have been unhappy with that either.

“But that was how (the match officials) saw it at the time.”

Annesley said the NRL was approaching a decision as to whether it would penalise the trainer who ran under the posts as Panthers co-captain Nathan Cleary attempted a conversion on Friday.

Per the NRL’s operations manual, “trainers must not at any time enter the line of sight of a player when he is attempting a kick for goal”.

Cleary missed the kick for goal, which proved crucial to the outcome of the game – the Panthers lost by two points.

A Parramatta trainer ran under the goalposts as Nathan Cleary attempted his conversion. Picture: Supplied

Annesley said a decision on the trainer’s punishment was “yet to be made” but a warning, breach notice and financial penalty were all on the table.

“It depends very much on the circumstances and those circumstances are still being reviewed,” he said.

“What will ultimately flow from this, at this moment, I’m not too sure.”

Annesley said the NRL could consult with the Eels about the matter, but Cleary would not be interviewed about whether the trainer had distracted him.

“We won’t be asking the player about it,” he said.

“Obviously, Nathan was trying to kick the goal, but we won’t be going down that path. It’s more about whether there was any information that we might seek from Parramatta.”