Wests Tigers winger Ken Maumalo has escaped with a fine after being pinged for a shoulder charge and sent to the sin bin during the second half of Sunday's controversial loss to the North Queensland Cowboys.
All the talk post game has centred around the controversial ending, which saw the Tigers stripped of a victory after the Cowboys were allowed to make a captain's challenge over a potential escort on the fulltime siren.
While the belief is widely held that the challenge should never have been allowed to be made, and the Tigers have already confirmed they have asked the NRL for a please explain, the club is also reportedly considering their legal options over the status of the game.
But that won't be Maumalo's primary focus after he was slapped with his first offence of the year under the NRL's new judiciary code.
With the Tigers up by two points at the time and just over 20 minutes remaining in the contest, the Cowboys looked to shift to the left-hand side where Tom Dearden found himself with room to move.
Maumalo turned his body into the impact, meaning his shoulder made direct contact with Dearden's head. The winger made no attempt to wrap an arm in the tackle and referee Chris Butler, in conjunction with bunker official Ashley Klein, decided to send him to the bin for ten minutes.
The match review committee didn't see it as seriously though, only hitting Maumalo with a Grade 1 charge which will result in a $1000 fine for a first offence with an early guilty plea.
A Grade 1 offence only becomes eligible for an automatic suspension under the offence of shoulder charge in a third offence situation for the season.
The decision to only hit Maumalo with a Grade 1 charge will continue to raise questions for the MRC after Dale Finucane was hit with a Grade 3 charge earlier this weekend despite appearing to have been involved in a head clash.
