Canterbury Bulldogs forward Corey Waddell has pled not guilty to eye gouging ahead of his Tuesday evening date with the NRL judiciary.
Waddell, who was reported for an alleged eye gouge on Tino Fa'asuamaleaui during the Bulldogs win over the hapless Gold Coast Titans on Sunday afternoon at Parramatta's CommBank Stadium, was referred straight to the judiciary on Monday morning by the match review committee.
They decided no charge under the current judiciary code would fit the brief for an appropriate punishment, with "dangerous contact" the ultimate charge levelled at Waddell.
He will be the second player to face the judiciary on Tuesday evening, following Dale Finucane, who has pled not guilty to a high shot on Stephen Crichton.
Waddell said after the game there was no intention or malice in his hand making contact with Fa'asuamaleaui's eye.
"In tackle technique, we try to break the player's posture and get him down onto his back," Waddell told reporters.
"Obviously my hand wasn't in the best position. Once I realised it was on his face, I released it. It wasn't intentional, there was no malice there.
"A penalty I think is fair enough.
"(The match review committee) will have a look at the vision but they'll see that I didn't have my fingers in his eyes or anything like that."
Fa'asuamaleaui himself said it was "accidental."
"That's footy," The Titans captain said.
"Sometimes you don't know where your hand is.
"I guess it just happened to be on my forehead and hit my eye but it was just accidental."
Finucane's hearing will commence at 6pm (AEST), with Waddell's scheduled to get underway at 8pm (AEST) in what will be the busiest night of the year for the judiciary so far in 2022.
