Dragons star gets huge ban for season-ending tackle

A horror tackle in an NRL trial on Sunday has ended the season of a Parramatta flyer and earned a massive ban for the culprit.

Haze Dunster is helped from the field after Tyrell Fuimaono’s tackle. Picture: Brett Hemmings/Getty Images

St George Illawarra’s Tyrell Fuimaono could be banned for seven matches after his hip-drop tackle on Parramatta’s Haze Dunster in an NRL trial match on Sunday which has ended the Eels winger’s season.

The NRL’s match review committee gave the Dragons forward a grade 3 dangerous contact charge, which comes with a five-match automatic ban that could stretch to seven if he challenges the charge at the judiciary and is found guilty.

Fuimaono spent 10 minutes on the sideline for the tackle on Dunster on Sunday afternoon. It left the young Eels winger writhing in agony and he eventually left the field with a knee injury.

Parramatta confirmed on Monday that Dunster sustained ruptures to his anterior, medial and posterior ligaments and would require surgery which would rule him out until 2023.

“Haze will undergo surgery in the coming days and then will begin an extended rehabilitation period,” the Eels said in a statement.

“The Parramatta Eels will support Haze in every way to ensure he returns to the field in 2023.”

An Indigenous All-Stars representative, Fuimaono was suspended late last year for a similar tackle on former Rabbitohs centre Dane Gagai.

'There is no excuse for this ugly tackle'.

Paul Crawley goes HARD on Tyrell Fuimaono's tackling technique in the #NRL Tackle https://t.co/MpCsbIrnr1pic.twitter.com/qwwVBd8nQI

— Courier Mail Sport (@cmail_sport) February 20, 2022

Injury update: Haze Dunster 🤕

Details - https://t.co/byobi1Kw2E

— Parramatta Eels (@TheParraEels) February 21, 2022

Fuimaono is a repeat offender, having been banned for five matches for a high tackle on Melbourne’s Ryan Papenhuyzen, for which he was sent off, during the Magic Round crackdown last year.

Papenhuyzen missed almost half the season as he recovered from the resulting heavy concussion.

Dunster suffered knee ligament damage and was undergoing scans on Monday to determine the extent of his injury.

Originally published as Dragons star gets huge ban for season-ending tackle