Penrith five-eighth Jarome Luai has learnt his fate after he was placed on report for a shoulder charge in the Panthers’ 26-6 victory over the Melbourne Storm.
In a fiery Friday night contest, Luai hit Storm enforcer Nelson Asofa-Solomona with a shoulder to the head in the 47th minute as tempers flared between the two NRL heavyweights.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: NRL fans left stunned as a Melbourne Storm trainer is sent from the field.
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The NRL Match Review Committee reviewed the incident and Luai was hit with a grade-one careless high tackle charge — however, Luai could avoid a suspension after receiving a $3000 fine with an early guilty plea.
Following the match, Panthers coach Ivan Cleary described the incident in an unusual way, calling Luai a “little fly” and Asofa-Solomona a “big giant”.
“I’ve only seen the one angle. I’m not too sure. It’s a little fly against a big giant. I dunno. We’ll just wait and see,” Cleary said during the post-match press conference.
Meanwhile, Gold Coast prop Moeaki Fotuaika also learned his punishment after being sent off during the Titans 28-18 loss to the Warriors in the earlier match on Friday at Cbus Super Stadium.
Fotuaika made high contact to the head of Warriors fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, who fell to the ground in discomfort and eventually walked from the field in a daze.
The Titans were forced to play 64 minutes with only 12 men when referee Ben Cummins sent Fotuaika from the field, as he became the second player to be sent off in the space of 24 hours, with Sydney Roosters forward Nathan Brown marched against Manly on Thursday.
The NRL Match Review Committee reviewed the incident and hit Fotuaika with a grade-two careless high-tackle charge.
The Titans forward will miss one match with an early guilty plea and risks another week on the sidelines should he fight the charge and lose.
Titans interim coach Jim Lenihan said the sending off of Foutaika was harsh and a sin-bin would have been sufficient.
“I don’t think Moe is recklessly coming out of the ground. Moe is pretty much bracing,” Lenihan said after the match.
“There might have been a bit of contact to the head and 10 minutes (in the sin bin) was probably sufficient. I don’t know if it justifies at that point to ruin the game.
“It put us under a hell of a lot of pressure and pretty much the game was over at that point.”
Prior to round 23, only one player had been sent from the field this season — Newcastle prop Jacob Saifiti in round two — but Lenihan said the NRL had not given clubs any notice of a crackdown.
“I didn’t hear anything. We had no warning on it,” he said.
– With Joel Martelli
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