Souths’ Jack Wighton banned, Wayne Bennett’s wooden spoon fight cops hefty blow

Wayne Bennett’s hopes of avoiding his first wooden spoon have taken a massive blow with veteran playmaker Jack Wighton hit with a whopping ban.

Wayne Bennett’s hopes of avoiding his first wooden spoon have taken a massive hit with veteran playmaker Jack Wighton hit with a whopping four-match ban after he was found guilty of a grade two shoulder charge at the NRL judiciary on Tuesday night.

The Rabbitohs have lost eight in a row and head into round 22 in last spot behind the Knights and Titans on points differential, but their hopes of causing a gigantic boilover against the Broncos have copped a devastating blow with their five-eighth sidelined.

He joins a host of stars who are missing for the club including Cam Murray, Latrell Mitchell and Cody Walker.

Wighton could have accepted a three-match ban for the grade two charge that saw him sent to the sin bin for a tackle that knocked out Cronulla’s Toby Rudolf on Saturday night but rolled the dice after he pleaded not guilty.

Referee Belinda Sharpe sends Jack Wighton to the sin bin. Picture: Getty Images

The panel of Greg McCallum and Bob Lindner listened to the 75-minute hearing and deliberated for just 15 minutes before they unanimously found him guilty.

“It was a fair hearing,” Wighton said afterwards.

“We came here thinking we had a good case. We didn’t get the result we wanted.

“I’ll turn my attention to preparing my teammates and really helping everyone at my club the best way I can.”

It was a reunion of sorts between Wighton and judiciary counsel Patrick Knowles, with the five-eighth asking him “how many games of rugby league have you played?” during a fiery hearing in 2023 when he was banned for three matches for biting.

Wighton didn’t give evidence on this occasion, a point not lost on Knowles who suggested he could have explained why there were no other options available to him to make a different type of tackle.

However, judiciary chairman Geoff Bellew reminded the panel that Wighton had no obligation to justify.

Jack Wighton has copped a four-game suspension. Picture: Getty Images

Knowles described the contact as a “textbook example of a shoulder charge” and that he twisted his body, the right shoulder led the forceful contact and that his left arm raised in a bracing motion but didn’t attempt to wrap.

“The amount of force generated in a tackle that used no arms carries a significant risk of injury,” he said. .

“The shoulder was the first impact and carried the primary degree of force.”

Prominent Sydney lawyer Nick Ghabar represented Wighton and argued it was “quite wrong” to suggest he propped and drove with the shoulder and that he did his best to avoid a head on collision.

Ghabar argued that the right arm wrapped around Rudolf’s left arm before contact and that the Cronulla forward generated the force by leading with his head and arms.

“Rudolf stepped ‘violently’ off his left foot,” he said, arguing that it was inevitable that there’d be a more violent collision if Wighton hadn’t dipped his body.

“Wighton drops his body height to avoid the risk of a head clash. He’s got a split second decision to make. He’s attempting to tackle with his left arm but his right arm doesn’t have the ability to swing around the back of Rudolf.”

Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett’s mission to avoid a first wooden spoon of his career just got harder. Picture: Jane Dempster

The referee’s report from Belinda Sharpe included a quote from Wighton that said “I couldn’t get my arm out”, while the medical report said the injury was caused by a “head clash from opponent”.

Ghabar suggested that the first contact was shoulder on shoulder, but that played into the argument it was an actual shoulder charge.

Knowles refuted a number of those arguments and pointed out that Wighton’s right fist was clenched so it couldn’t have been a conventional wrapping tackle and that he could’ve twisted the other way and made a conventional left shoulder tackle.

Ghabar sought a downgrade that would have seen Wighton miss two matches, but it was dismissed after Knowles argued that the force was moderate, it was careless and the risk of injury was moderate and that the risk came to fruition.

Wighton will miss matches against the Broncos, Titans, Eels and Dragons and will return in the final round against the Roosters, with Lewis Dodd likely to start in the halves.

Originally published as Souths’ Jack Wighton banned, Wayne Bennett’s wooden spoon fight cops hefty blow