Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy has fired back at criticism of firebrand forward Nelson Asofa-Solomona and questioned why Roosters star Lindsay Collins avoided scrutiny for an ugly hip-drop following a spiteful Round 24 clash.
Asofa-Solomona was hit with a fine for striking Joseph Suaalii with his forearm, one of a series of charges this season which have resulted in punishments totallying nearly $12,000.
Collins, meanwhile, accepted a four-match ban for a hip-drop tackle that saw Tom Eisenhuth ruled out for the rest of the season.
It was Asofa-Solomona, however, who came in for the most stinging criticism for his actions with the Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield accusing him of “cheap shots”.
Bellamy, however, is adamant that if there was any malice in the 26-year-old’s actions, the competition would have suspended him already.
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“At the end of the day he’s been charged some times but he hasn’t been suspended a lot so at the end of the day that’s the committee that puts the charges out,” Bellamy said.
“They haven’t seen it as that severe I suppose that they’d give him weeks so I think again he’s certainly got some charges where he’s been fined but if they thought it was serious enough they would’ve suspended him.”
The Storm boss then shifted his attention to the Roosters and Collins.
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“He hasn’t been suspended, he’s been fined,” Bellamy said.
“There’s been a lot of other guys fined and there was a guy that got four weeks in last week’s game, we’re not talking about him, we’re talking about Nelson.
“At the end of the day we want Nelson to play his footy and that’s what we’ll continue with.”
The Storm will travel up to CommBank Stadium on Thursday night where they’ll take on the Parramatta Eels in a battle for a spot in the top four leading into finals.
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