NRL 2023: Angus Crichton free to play for Roosters in Round 1
Roosters star Angus Crichtion copped a suspension for his World Cup final elbow on Chanel Harris-Tavita but won't miss any NRL action.
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An International Rugby League loophole has helped deliver the Sydney Roosters a round one boost with star Angus Crichton cleared to take on the Dolphins.
The Kangaroos second-rower was hit with a Grade B reckless striking charge, which carries a two-match ban, for his elbow on Samoa’s Chanel Harris-Tavita in the World Cup final.
But in a judiciary hearing on Thursday night, the charge was successfully downgraded to a Grade A, which only carries a one-match suspension.
Under international rules, Crichton will be allowed to serve the ban during the preseason making him unavailable for the Roosters’ trial match against Melbourne in Geelong on February 12.
Crichton was sinbinned for the hit that left Harris-Tavita heavily concussed in Australia’s 30-10 win at Old Trafford in Manchester.
“I want to talk to you guys because I want to get this message across, and I want to let his family know that I am genuinely sorry. I want to let the Samoa community know that I had no malice at all,” he said after the game,” a remorseful Crichton said at the time.
“It was just me bracing for a tackle- and it was a freak tackle. As soon as it happened, I spoke to Chanel, and it was honestly just a reaction. I didn’t know that he was coming in and I had no malice at all.”
Crichton and Harris-Tavita went travelling through Europe together after the World Cup.
Unlike Crichton, players suspended in the NRL must serve their bans in premiership games.
But Roosters prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and North Queensland lock Jason Taumalolo were able to serve their NRL suspensions during the World Cup for New Zealand and Tonga, respectively. Both are free to play in round one.
South Sydney’s Taane Milne will miss one one NRL game after copping a six-game ban for a reckless high tackle on Penrith’s Spencer Leniu in last year’s preliminary final.
Fiji’s warm-up match and four World Cup games were counted as part of Milne’s NRL ban because the Rabbitohs outside back was considered a certainty for the Bati.
CIRALDO OPENS UP ON XERRI SIGNING
Cameron Ciraldo wants ‘good people’ at Belmore and the new Canterbury coach believes Bronson Xerri, who is serving a drug ban, fits the bill.
Xerri burst onto the scene for Cronulla in 2019 as an 18-year old but was exiled from the game for four years after testing positive for illegal substances, including testosterone, following his rookie season.
But with the 22-year-old’s ban ending in November 2023, and the Bulldogs in the midst of a roster rebuild, Xerri’s name ‘came up in conversations’ when Ciraldo first arrived at Belmore in October.
“I’d never met Bronson,” Ciraldo told The Bye Round Podcast.
“I had a couple of coffees with him and I was really impressed with how open he was about mistakes he has made in the past and how willing he was to make up for those.
“We’re looking for good people and from my interactions with Bronson, he’s a good person.
“That gave me confidence that the person Bronson will be when he comes back to the NRL is the sort of guy you want at the club.
“He deserves a second chance, I’m happy we can give it to him.”
Those coffee meetings were enough to convince Ciraldo that Xerri was worth the gamble, so the Bulldogs offered him a two-year deal from 2024.
Considered a prodigious talent before failing a drug test in late 2019, Xerri played 22 games scoring 13 tries for the Sharks.
Xerri was also touted as a future State of Origin star.
“Bronson’s obviously a very talented player, he saw what he did when he came onto the NRL at such a young age,” Ciraldo said.
“But he has a lot of hard work to do to make sure he can realise that talent after four years out.
“We can provide him with that when he gets there but at the end of the day it’s up to him.”
The outside back must commit to regular drug testing while contracted to the Bulldogs.
Ciraldo said it was up to Xerri to ‘make the most’ out of the opportunity.
“I think we can help him, and he can help us. The game is built on second chances, and Bronson’s got that second chance now. In 12 months time, it’s up to him to make the most of it,” Ciraldo said.
Under WADA anti-doping rules, Xerri was also banned from any involvement in organised professional sport.
Xerri has been working on building sites and training alone in his garage as he prepares to return from the NRL wilderness.
The centre’s signing is another piece in Canterbury’s roster overhaul.
The club has already moved on local junior Aaron Schoupp, Corey Allan and Ava Seumanufagai. Skipper Josh Jackson announced his retirement in late October.
Canterbury are also keeping tabs on Parramatta’s contract talks with star halfback Mitchell Moses, who is yet to decide where he will play in 2024.
EELS’ REBUILD UNDERWAY, RABBITOHS STAR MAKES EARLY RETURN
Star hooker Josh Hodgson headlined six new Eels in action at Parramatta pre-season training as South Sydney’s Tongan international Keaon Koloamatangi returned to the paddock three weeks early to be greeted by a flash storm at Redfern.
Hodgson was joined in Kellyville by fellow new recruits Jack Murchie, J’maine Hopgood, Daejarn Asi, Matt Doorey and Jirah Momoisea.
In Redcliffe, Jesse Bromwich has revealed how Wayne Bennett’s charms convinced him to walk out on Melbourne after 13 seasons while in Bondi, Sam Walker is gearing up for his biggest summer yet and can’t wait for the arrival of former Storm hooker Brandon Smith.
Here’s the latest pre-season news from around the grounds.
NEW FACES
There were plenty of fresh faces out at Kellyville with Parramatta’s six recruits all now officially back for pre-season duty.
In welcome news for Eels fans, the club’s highest-profile recruit Hodgson is in full training after the former Canberra hooker missed the bulk of last season with an ACL injury.
Local junior Doorey has turned to his old stomping ground after a two-year stint at Canterbury. The backrower, who has signed a two-year deal, hasn’t played a game since August 2021, when he sustained an ACL injury.
But with Isaiah Papali’i backrow spot up for grabs, Doorey along with Murchie and Hopgood are pressing their claims for round one selection.
Hopgood, who captained Penrith to a NSW Cup title, is the current frontrunner for the spot.
Versatile back Asi and former Newcastle forward Momoisea round out the newcomers. Asi can play in the halves, at centre and fullback, adding depth to backline stocks.
EELS JERSEY
If Eels fans are having trouble telling the difference between this year’s 2023 jersey and last year‘s strip, that’s because the jumper has not changed.
Parramatta’s home and alternate jerseys from 2022 have proven so popular the club has made the decision to wear the same design again this season.
There will be one change though, with the away jersey getting a revamped design, modelled by winger Haze Dunster.
The new away jumper has the same design as the home jersey but on a white base.
Dunster has been sidelined since February after a hip drop tackle from St George Illawarra’s Tyrell Fuimaono left him with a ruptured ACL, PCL and MCL during a trial match.
KEEN KEAON
In a bid to put a disappointing Rugby League World Cup campaign for the Tongans behind him, Koloamatangi reported for pre-season South Sydney training three weeks early.
The backrower wasn’t due back at Redfern Oval until early January.
Normally, Koloamatangi and his Rabbitohs teammates are sweating it out at Redfern in December but on Monday the forward was drenched for an entirely different reason, La Nina.
The abrupt wild storm swept through Sydney on Monday making training conditions less than ideal.
WHEN JESSE MET WAYNE
Wayne Bennett is known as a ‘player whisperer’ and it’s that charm from the mastercoach that helped seal Jesse Bromwich’s move from Melbourne to Redcliffe.
All it took was one zoom call.
“The way it unfolded it was probably a bit different. Everything these days is done over Zoom, I just remember the feeling after talking to Wayne — I was really excited about the opportunity to move,” Bromwich said.
Bromwich hung up the call and went straight to Storm coach Craig Bellamy to let him know Bennett had wove his magic.
“At the time I was still at the Storm so I was talking to Craig (Bellamy) and Frank (Ponissi), telling them that there’s a chance I’m going to leave and I guess it happened really quickly from there. Things escalated, I had a couple more chats with Wayne and we made the decision as a family to move up.
The former Storm skipper is a three-time premiership winner and is expected to use that experience as the Dolphins’ inaugural captain.
CHEESY COMBO
A beefed up Sam Walker is preparing for his biggest NRL pre-season yet, and is expecting former Storm hooker Smith to play a huge part in that over the summer.
Smith is still on holidays after lining-up for New Zealand in the World Cup but already Walker is thinking about building a spine combination with the hooker.
“I really want to start building on our combination early and I’m really excited to see where we can take the team this year,” Walker said.
“I’m really keen to get Brandon in and training with us. I know he’ll enjoy it up here and it’ll be good fun.
“I think there will be a bit of a learning curve with how he wants to play but once we get that out of the way, I’m keen to see where he can take our game.”
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