Canterbury back-rower Jacob Preston is facing a three-game suspension that appears set to cruel his hopes of making a State of Origin debut for NSW later this month.
Preston was charged on Monday with a grade-one crusher tackle on Tino Fa’asuamaleaui during Canterbury’s 38-18 win against Gold Coast on Sunday, and because of previous offences, the sanction carries extra loading.
If the Bulldogs opt to challenge the charge at the judiciary and are unsuccessful, Preston would face an additional week on the sidelines.
If he takes the early guilty plea, he will miss Canterbury’s games against Canberra (away), Sydney Roosters (home) and the Dolphins (home), which lead into the Origin-series opener on May 28.
Along with in-form teammate Jacob Kiraz, who scored a hat-trick against the Titans, Preston has been touted as a candidate for a NSW call-up.
The 23-year-old was facing some stiff competition from incumbents Angus Crichton and Liam Martin, as well as Hudson Young, who was dropped after Origin I last year but has since been in the form of his career with Canberra.
With Canterbury on top of the table, Preston had an ideal chance to stake a claim in coming weeks.
Jacob Preston is facing a suspension.Credit: Getty Images
Another Origin player facing suspension is North Queensland’s Reuben Cotter, who has been charged with grade-two careless high contact for his seventh-minute shot on Marata Niukore during the Cowboys’ 30-26 loss to the Warriors.
Cotter, however, is facing only a two-match ban, which will allow him a chance to freshen up and prepare for the series opener.
Reuben Cotter is facing a suspension for a high tackle.Credit: Getty Images
Meanwhile, Melbourne forwards Trent Loiero and Stefano Utoikamanu avoided suspension but are facing some Craig Bellamy-style discipline after the Storm’s fiery 20-18 golden-point loss to Canberra at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday.
Loiero and Utoikamanu both conceded penalties in possession that allowed Canberra to recover from an early 14-0 deficit and seal a famous win with a Jamal Fogarty penalty goal in the first period of extra time.
Speaking after the game, Bellamy was clearly frustrated, and neither Loiero nor Utoikamanu are likely to be looking forward to Melbourne’s video-review session.
“Lapses in our discipline probably cost us there … one thing we can control is our actions, so to give away two penalties when you’ve got the ball, it doesn’t happen too often,” Bellamy said.
“And to do it in the one game, it cost us. It cost us. It cost us dearly … we just need to be a bit disciplined and know what our best footy is.”
Storm playmaker Cameron Munster, deputising as skipper in the absence of Harry Grant, admitted Melbourne “played some dumb footy”.
But the champion five-eighth was loath to criticise Loiero – who also conceded the game-breaking penalty after a high shot on Young – because he had made similar mistakes himself in the past.
Melbourne’s Trent Loiero protests after referee Grant Atkins penalises him in golden point. Credit: Getty Images
“He’s a great player … I’m not going to sit here and bag him,” Munster said. “He’s done so much great stuff for us as a club. He’s an integral and influential part of the team.”
Loiero and Utoikamanu were outliers on a Magic Round weekend that was in stark contrast to the mayhem a week earlier, when 18 players were sin-binned – including 15 for high tackles – across eight games.
Only one player, Cronulla forward Jesse Colquhoun, was binned in the opening two days and five games of Magic Round and Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon admitted he “deserved it” for a blatant professional foul.
Three more sin-binnings followed in the first game on Sunday – Gold Coast pair Brian Kelly and Chris Randall and Preston.
Regardless of whether there was less drama in Magic Round because players were on their best behaviour, or because match officials opted for a more lenient approach, the end result was collective applause from coaches, media and fans.
The eighth Immortal, Andrew Johns, who a week earlier described the high-tackle crackdown as “absolutely farcical”, told the Sunday Footy Show: “Every game has flowed. It’s been high energy. I’ve loved it.”
Other players charged by the match-review panel over the weekend were South Sydney prop Tevita Tatola, Cronulla playmaker Braydon Trindall, Roosters utility Zach Dockar-Clay, Dolphins second-rower Kulikefu Finefeuiaki, Gold Coast prop Moeaki Fotuaika and Canberra centre Sebastian Kris, all of whom are facing fines.
Cronulla coach Craig Fitzgibbon had no issue with Colquhoun’s sin-binning, saying it was an “obvious one” that warranted on-field action.
“That’s a professional foul every day of the week, so you’ve just got to wear that,” he said.
Fitzgibbon said it was a relief to get through a game without having multiple players sent to the sheds for 10 minutes.
“We don’t want to see people in the bin,” he said. “Who wants to see that?
“We don’t want to see people get smashed in the face, but we don’t want to see them in the bin.
“I thought it was handled well … I thought some of the penalties that weren’t quite high were a little bit not a penalty, but everything else was all right.”
