Eels face player crisis after Dylan Brown and Marata Niukore banned

The biosecurity bubble plus bans to Dylan Brown and Marata Niukore could leave the Eels seriously undermanned.

Parramatta five-eighth Dylan Brown entered an early guilty plea to a dangerous contact charge on Sunday and then revealed he had called Drew Hutchison to personally apologise for the incident that left the Sydney Roosters No 6 in a trauma unit at a Sydney Hospital.

Brown will miss three games, his absence a potential headache for Eels coach Brad Arthur after Parramatta elected to play their back-up halves Jordan Rankin and Jake Arthur in NSW Cup on Friday night.

In order to play that game, Rankin and Arthur were required to leave the biosecurity bubble. Should level three protocols remain in effect leading into Magic Round next weekend, Rankin and Arthur will be ineligible to play.

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So too will Wiremu Greig, Joey Lussick, Ray Stone, Hayze Perham and Michael Oldfield at a time when the Eels could have as many as three first-choice players missing.

Aside from Brown, back rower-turned-centre Marata Niukore also entered an early guilty plea to a careless high tackle charge on James Tedesco and will miss two matches.

Hooker Reed Mahoney will also need to pass concussion protocols to play against the Warriors this weekend.

While the club should have Waqa Blake and Nathan Brown back from injury, Lussick has deputised for the No 9 this year and Stone has been used in the role at times over the past 18 months.

Neither will be able to play if conditions remain the same. The club also recruited Nathaniel Roache from the Warriors, but he too played NSW Cup on Friday night and as a result, was not in the bubble.

Dylan Brown, along with the match officials, has been in the crosshairs in the wake of Friday night after sliding in with his knees on Hutchison, leaving the Roosters half with two broken rubs and a punctured lung.

Hutchison remains in hospital at a pivotal time in his career. The Roosters half is off contract at the end of the season and has been deprived of the chance to show he deserves a new deal.

His manager David Riolo was scathing in his criticism of the incident on Friday night and again on Saturday, suggesting the game needed to do more to protect their players.

Others share the same view, including the likes of ARL Commission chair Peter V’landys. Dylan Brown was apologetic in a statement released by the Eels on Sunday, where he revealed he had reached out to Hutchison.

“No player likes to see anyone injured,” Brown said.

“Yesterday I contacted Drew to check up on him and apologise. I also let him know that it was an accident and never my intention for him to get hurt.”

Parramatta Eels general manager of football Mark O’Neill said, “As a club we never want to see serious injuries occur and we would like to pass on our best wishes to Drew for a swift recovery. “

The repercussions are set to continue through the week as match officials come under renewed pressure to improve their decision-making.

Steve Chiddy was scheduled to be in the video bunker for Saturday night’s game between Brisbane and North Queensland, but he was rested after initially missing the Brown-Hutchison incident on Friday night.

He is expected to sit out this weekend’s Magic Round as well and NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo admitted the match officials needed to improve their performance in the wake of a disappointing weekend for the game.

While Abdo can sympathise with the views of frustrated fans, he said the game also needed to remember that human error would always be a factor.

“It’s disappointing,” Abdo said.

“It is human error. I don’t think we need to abandon the system. I think it was a poor decision by the bunker officials.

“We will review it on Monday. We have removed the bunker official this week and I don’t think he will feature next week.

“It’s human error but we have to keep going.”