Penrith playmaker Nathan Cleary has avoided suspension for his 'shoulder charge' on Dragon Jack Bird, being cleared of any charge.

The Panthers half has been sanctioned for dangerous contact however, and can accept a fine for an incident involving Talatau Amone.

Despite starring in his return from injury against St George Illawarra on Friday night, Cleary's collision with Bird has drawn the ire of Dragons coach Anthony Griffin.

With 26-minutes remaining in the aforementioned pair's Round 22 clash at Suncorp Stadium, Bird was in the process of running the ball back from his line before being collected by Cleary in what appeared to be a shot that lacked arms.

Following the contest, Bird spilled the Steeden before Cleary's offsider, Matt Burton, charged across the try line to extend the Panthers' lead to a neat 20-points.

Although Cleary had performed admirably in his first effort back after a near two-month layoff after injuring his shoulder during the Blues' successful Origin series, the manner in which he made contact with Bird had Griffin hot under the collar.

“I thought the scoreline was a bit tough on us,” Griffin stated in his post-match press conference.

“With the way the game went they just got their points a little easy at times.

“There were a couple of dodgy calls there, particularly Cleary’s shoulder charge on Jack Bird. How that gets awarded a try I don’t know.

“It was a clear-cut shoulder charge. That’s the one they brought the rule in for where you don’t use your arms."

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 04: Panthers coach Anthony Griffin speaks to the media during the post match press conference after the round one NRL match between the St George Illawarra Dragons and the Penrith Panthers at UOW Jubilee Oval on March 4, 2017 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Griffin continued his tirade by pointing out how key players from his side had faced sanctions for exceedingly similar incidents this season.

“Ravalawa has had three suspensions this year for hitting blokes around the belly button and not using his arms," he said.

“That’s a try-scoring bit of vision that they had to go back and watch and watch, so I don’t know how they clear that.

"It is a massive play. It is six points against the run of play and that was sort of unfortunately our night.

“When you get a few intercepts and a couple of calls like that it makes it harder.

“The biggest disappointment for me is that try from the shoulder charge. I want to know why that is not a shoulder charge?”

In spite of Griffin's views, the Dally M fancy saw things differently.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - MAY 07: Scott Sorensen of the Panthers and Nathan Cleary of the Panthers celebrate winning the round nine NRL match between the Penrith Panthers and the Cronulla Sharks at BlueBet Stadium on May 07, 2021, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

“I definitely wasn’t trying to shoulder charge,” Cleary said.

“I just saw him trying to pick me out off the kick chase and knew that I was going to have to put my body on the line.

"I think there was someone next to me so I tried to lift my arm but I couldn’t really get it all the way across because he was right next to me.

“I didn’t think it was a shoulder charge. The ref said they were checking it.

“Andrew McCullough asked the referee at the time about the shoulder charge and they said that was clear.”

In a tweet posted during the Friday night clash eventually won by the Panthers 34-16, Gould stated that as Bird had chosen to run at Cleary and that Cleary had only made contact with the ball rather than the runner, he should be available for his side's all important Round 23 clash with South Sydney.

Still, as is usually the case, not everyone shared Gould's point of view.

 

2 COMMENTS

  1. I don’t like the one rule for most and another rule for the “stars” the favouritism is EXTREMELY obvious and it’s BS full stop.

  2. Of course it was a shoulder charge …….. a minor one but still a shoulder charge. While I’m at it, when Ravalawa tackled some one around the waist and got suspended ….. really ? One rule for the media favourites and one rule for the others

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