Bulldogs trio face combined 13 weeks on sidelines after wild Broncos loss

Canterbury back-rower Sitili Tupouniua is facing up to seven matches on the sidelines for two incidents in which he kneed and shoulder-charged Brisbane’s Brendan Piakura in the head.

With teammates Josh Curran (grade two shoulder charge) facing up to four weeks out and Matt Burton (grade two careless high tackle) also issued a 1-2 game ban, the Bulldogs trio face a combined nine weeks on the sidelines if they were to each accept early guilty pleas.

That figure balloons to a maximum of 13 combined weeks if each charge was unsuccessfully challenged at the judiciary.

Tupouniua was placed on report, but not sin-binned for leading with his knee into contact with Piakura in Thursday night’s heavy loss to the Broncos, to the consternation of commentators given the Bunker viewed several replays of the incident.

Marcelo Montoya was binned in the next tackle for high contact amid what referee Gerard Sutton described as “repeated foul play” by the Bulldogs. Montoya was not charged by the match review committee.

Both Tupouniua’s grade two shoulder charge and dangerous contact charges, and the suspensions issued, have been amplified because they are his second offences in the same judiciary category.

The Tongan international’s previous dangerous contact charge was for his late shot Cronulla’s Brayden Trindall in the final minute of round Canterbury’s round four win at Shark Park.

Tupouniua and Curran were both sin-binned for their first-half hits. Sutton described Tupouniua’s shot as leading “with the shoulder, again he hasn’t wrapped [his arms] and makes direct contact [with Piakura’s head] with moderate force”.