Roosters forward Nathan Brown is facing just a one-match ban for a high shot which resulted in one of the fastest send-offs in NRL history.
The NRL match review committee hit Brown with a grade two careless high tackle charge on Friday morning after the former State of Origin enforcer was marched for a high shot on Manly’s Ben Trbojevic just 30 seconds after coming onto the field.
It means he will miss only the Roosters’ clash against the Dolphins next week if he accepts an early guilty plea. He will be suspended for two matches if he unsuccessfully fights the charge at the judiciary.
Brown, who switched to the Roosters mid-season after featuring in last year’s grand final for Parramatta, was the first player sent off in the NRL since Newcastle’s Jacob Saifiti in round two.
Roosters coach Trent Robinson criticised the decision after the game.
“When was the last send-off? Do we remember? We’ve had high tackles, we’ve had shoulder charges, we’ve had all of that,” he said. “It was a high tackle. He hit him in the neck. It had no effect on [Trbojevic].
“He got up and elbowed pretty quickly straight after that, which wasn’t cited and went unpunished. You don’t want to see it, and I don’t think it’s great for Ben. There’s so much worse than that that happens in the game. But that gets sent off?
“Guys have been heavily concussed from high tackles and nothing happened there tonight.”
The Roosters need to win all four of their remaining matches to be any hope of making the finals after easing past the Sea Eagles at the SCG.
More to come
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