Newcastle Knights hooker Phoenix Crossland will plead guilty at the judiciary over the tackle that left Nathan Cleary with a compound fracture.
Crossland was sent off for the hip-drop tackle in the 36th minute of Newcastle’s preliminary final win over Penrith on Sunday and the match review committee sent him straight to the judiciary with a dangerous contact charge.
A hearing is set for 6pm AEST tonight to decide the punishment, with Crossland’s plea all but guaranteeing he will miss Sunday’s grand final, barring an 11th-hour miracle.
Dragons forward Ryan Couchman was referred straight to the judiciary in round three for a hip drop that ended the season of Parramatta’s J’Maine Hopgood.
Couchman pleaded guilty and was suspended for four games after being sin-binned for the tackle that left Hopgood with a torn ACL.
“Whilst the panel accepted that this did not incorporate any element of intention or recklessness, it took the view that the player’s level of culpability was significant, a factor reflected in the serious injury sustained by the ball carrier,” judiciary chair Geoff Bellew said during a 90-minute hearing.
Crossland has apologised to Cleary, who urged people to stop abusing the Knights number nine online.
“It was a complete accident, and he doesn’t deserve the unwarranted hate. He reached out to apologise, and I have nothing but respect for him,” Cleary posted on social media after surgery on his broken left leg.
Phoenix Crossland was sent off as Nathan Cleary left on a medicab. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)
“He’s a competitor, and our game is made up of split-second moments that sometimes lead to unfortunate circumstances.
“Comments like this are so unfair. Spread love, not hate.”
Newcastle football director Chris James on Monday described it as “a horrible accident at speed under fatigue”.
“Phoenix Crossland has made more tackles in the NRL than any other player and he got one wrong,” he told ABC Sport.
“He got one wrong and it was a horrible injury for Nathan, but that’s not Phoenix’s go. If you’ve ever met Phoenix Crossland, he’s one of the great men of rugby league.
“Horrible for Nathan, the thoughts of our club go out to Nathan.
“He’ll go down as one of the greats of the game and we hope he has a speedy recovery, but we’ll also wrap our arms around Phoenix and make sure we look after him this week too.”
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