Gorden Tallis and Benji Marshall accused Panthers Halbback Sean O’Sullivan of mixing a penalty that led to controversy over a Jaydn Su’A sin bin and a 14-point turn.
Dragons enforcer Su’A has been controversially sent to the sinister for a late attack on O’Sullivan as the NRL crackdown continues to protect playmakers.
Su’A wrapped his arm around the tackle and did not hit O’Sullivan in the head, but the tackle was considered late enough to result in a penalty and a 10-minute spell for the Dragons enforcer.
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“Is he being sent to the sinister here?” Warren Smith sat on Fox League.
“He is, too, I did not think it would be so late, but anyway,” said Steve Roach.
“Try to protect half. Fair enough.”
“It’s a tackle on a player without a ball, he’s in the trash,” referee Chris Sutton said.
Smith believes the tackle’s power combined with the late Sutton had little choice but to surrender Su’A for 10 minutes, but admitted that a penalty would be enough.
“Look at this at normal speed and you’re the judge at home,” Smith said.
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“The force of the impact is the thing. If he makes contact with O’Sullivan and it’s just a wrap move without great force. If there’s enough force to hit him on the ground, I think it might just be enough. for a penalty and maybe just keep playing.
“But if he runs into the tackle like that and he’s late, the referee has no chance.”
Roach responded to Smith’s assertion that the arbitrator was only going with the letter of the law book.
“You have no right choice, do you?” said Roach.
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“They are trying to protect half and rightly so. I did not think Su’A would continue there.
“I thought he was half out, but he hit the ground pretty solid.”
“It’s also the whiplash scenario that can really do some damage,” Smith added.
The tackle proved costly by the Panthers losing O’Sullivan to an injury rate while the score went from 6-6 to 20-6 on the Panthers while Su’A was off the field.
However, O’Sullivan passed his HIA and returned to the field and had a debate at the break.
Gorden Tallis and Benji Marshall accused O’Sullivan of faking an injury to get a penalty in the penalty area.
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“He absolutely mixed it up,” Tallis said.
“I think the referee would like to make that decision again. It was a split second. He did not hit him high. He hit him on the shoulder. He makes a play at the playmaker.
“He comes deep into the line, so he takes it straight to the line and hits him.
“You can not be blamed for the force with which you strike someone if it is not an illegal high tackle.”
“It’s not high,” Marshall added.
“It’s one sixth of a second too late. That’s not as late as seriously.
“He stayed down and so he had to go for an HIA. So the lesson is, don’t stay down.
“In my opinion, Jaydn Su’A should not make sense in this situation. It’s poor form.”
“I think the referees are sitting there, all together,” Tallis added.
“They know they made the wrong decision and so they left O’Sullivan on the pitch.
“I think they noticed he was painting it. He turned his head up. He kept looking to see if he would get a penalty.
“They said you have to go for a head clash, but it was not a head clash at all. They did it wrong and they want to make that decision again.
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