South Sydney are set to lose two players to suspension for their Good Friday clash with Canterbury at Accor Stadium, but Jack Wighton has escaped sanction after a controversial alleged hip-drop incident on Saturday.
The match-review panel cleared Wighton on Sunday after a tackle during Souths’ 24-16 loss to North Queensland in Perth in which he saved a likely try by Cowboys fullback Scott Drinkwater.
His Rabbitohs teammates Jayden Sullivan and Sean Keppie were not so fortunate. Sullivan was charged on Sunday with grade-two dangerous contact for a three-man tackle on Cowboys five-eighth Tom Dearden.
The tackle, in the 70th minute, initially appeared innocuous and Dearden did not seem to have suffered any ill-effects, but slow-motion replays reveal a hint of a back-slam.
Sullivan faces a one-match ban unless the Rabbitohs can overturn the charge at the judiciary.
Keppie is also facing a week on the sidelines after being charged with a grade-two careless high tackle on Drinkwater.
In the Wighton tackle, Drinkwater spilled the ball just metres out from the try line, but the bunker intervened to penalise the Rabbitohs centre for a hip-drop from behind.
Rabbitohs centre Jack Wighton.Credit: Getty Images
He was put on report after avoiding 10 minutes in the sin bin, but the incident swung the momentum in North Queensland’s favour. Souths went from leading 10-6 to conceding three tries in nine minutes to trail 22-10, eventually losing 24-16.
“I think anybody who has ever been in rugby league will not agree that was a hip-drop tackle,” Bennett said.
“What was he supposed to do – touch him and let him run to the try line? Because that’s where he was heading.
“It was a tackle from behind, it was as simple as that. It was no more than that. It was a really good tackle.”
The match-review panel saw no reason to discipline Wighton, who was not even fined.
The controversy and confusion surrounding the Wighton penalty provided another opportunity for Bennett to query the hip-drop interpretation.
“I’m not sure what a hip-drop is, to be honest with you,” Bennett said last month after a tackle that cost Souths fullback Jye Gray a $1000 fine. “I’m not saying that sarcastically. It’s a pretty confusing lot of rules around that. I’m not a real good judge of hip-drop tackles.”
The potential loss of Sullivan leaves Souths facing a short-term playmaking crisis that could provide Bennett with the opportunity to blood English import Lewis Dodd.
A suspension for a high tackle in the pre-season trials meant Dodd had to sit out round one, allowing Jamie Humphreys to seize his chance with a dream debut against the Dolphins.
Humphreys has been a revelation since joining the Rabbitohs this year after playing a lone NRL game for Manly, striking up an instant combination with veteran five-eighth Cody Walker.
Dodd has since been finding his feet in NSW Cup, only to miss another game through suspension this weekend after a crusher tackle.
But Humphreys and Walker both missed the loss to North Queensland with hamstring injuries, and if Sullivan joins them on the sidelines through suspension, Dodd would appear in line to make his NRL debut in front of an anticipated crowd of 50,000-plus.
Meanwhile, Manly’s Haumole Olakau’atu and Parramatta’s Ryan Matterson are set to pay $1000 fines if they plead guilty to high-tackle and dangerous-contact offences respectively.
