Melbourne Storm enforcer Nelson Asofa-Solomona has had his grand final fate determined after he unsuccessfully tried to challenge his four-match suspension for a high shot on Lindsay Collins in the preliminary final at the NRL judiciary.
The Storm tried to have the charge reduced to Grade 1 high contact to downgrade his sanction to a fine and free him for Sunday’s grand final against the Penrith Panthers.
However the panel of Bob Lindner and Paul Simpkins agreed with chairman Geoff Bellew that the offence was a grade three careless high tackle, taking less than 15 minutes to deliberate, and the Storm prop has copped a five-game suspension.
The unanimous verdict came after Asofa-Solomona’s lawyer Nick Ghabar tried to argue Collins’ history of head knocks contributed to his concussion and that the Roosters prop was at fault for the contact being high in the tackle.
Ghabar also tried to convince the panel that a similar tackle by Maroons centre Valentine Holmes in Origin on NSW prop Payne Haas, which was deemed a grade one, had established a precedent for his client getting a reprieve.
Collins was so b dazed by the hit he got up and played the ball backwards. He did not return to the field under the NRL’s concussion protocols.
Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy will name his grand final squad on Tuesday with Joe Chan or Lazarus Vaalepu the likeliest to come into the 17 but the pair have played only 21 NRL games and neither has featured yet in this finals series.
Ghabar was the man who represented Billy Slater and got the legendary former Storm fullback cleared to play in his farewell game in the 2018 grand final.
The start to the hearing was delayed by 40 minutes and when it finally began, the Roosters’ chief medical officer Dr Matthew Morgan was cross-examined by both Ghabar and NRL counsel Lachlan Gyles.
Morgan was unable to divulge whether Collins had passed his head injury assessment but Ghabar was eager to highlight how the Roosters prop had shown concussion symptoms in 11 of his 113 games in the NRL.
Asofa-Solomona’s lawyer then turned his attention to a comparable grade one high contact charge levelled at Queensland’s Valentine Holmes in State of Origin II in this year’s series.
Ghabar argued Holmes’ hit on Payne Haas, unlike Asofa-Solomona’s, displayed direct and forceful contact to the head with no attempt to wrap the arms.
But unlike in Slater’s case, Ghabar had no such luck this time around.
Earlier updates from the judiciary …
8:20pm: The panel is now deliberating on whether Asofa-Solomona should be found guilty of a grade one or grade three offence. If he gets a downgrade to a grade one charge, he will be free to take his place in the line-up on grand final night. If the grade-three offence remains, he will be banned for five matches, meaning the earliest he can play again will be Round 2 next year following the Pacific Championships.
8.05pm: Ghabar has wrapped up and Bellew is now responding by telling the panel of Simpkins and Lindner that they need to disregard the fact that a grand final berth is on the line.
”You simply treat this like any other case,” he said.
7:50pm: Ghabar is now claiming Collins was at fault for the high contact.
“In terms of generating force, player Collins was responsible for that. He didn’t take action to protect himself, which is unfortunate.”
7.35pm: Ghabar is now trying to convince the panel that Asofa-Solomona made high contact with Collins because he stands at nearly 2m tall.
“He could have bent more, but he is a large man,” Ghabar argued.
He added that “there’s no question the tackle was high” but argued the initial contact was from the Storm player’s chest or collarbone, not arm or shoulder.
However, he emplored that Asofa-Solomona’s collarbone was the point of his body that made contact, describing it as “front or chest contact, not arm or shoulder contact”.
7:20pm: Ghabar is showing footage of a Valentine Holmes high shot on Payne Haas from Origin which was rated a grade one as a similar hit to Asofa-Solomona’s Collins hit.
Gyles countered by saying grade three was correct this time around compared to the Holmes incident.
7.05pm: Roosters doctor Matthew Morgan said Collins suffered a blow to his jaw from the impact of Asofa-Solomona’s shoulder with the fact he played the ball the wrong way a sure sign of Category 1 symptoms.
“There were clear symptoms of concussion requiring an 11-day stand down.”
6.50pm: The panel has been shown vision of the incident from no less than 10 camera angles. The NRL is being represented at the hearing by Lachlan Gyles SC with Roosters doctor Matthew Morgan called upon to give evidence about how Collins was concussed by the hit.
6.30 update: Geoff Bellew is the chair of the panel which consists of ex-referee Paul Simpkins and former Kangaroos back-rower Bob Lindner. Bellew will have the casting vote if the other two cannot reach agreement. There has been a slight delay in getting underway and now Ghabar is arguing the case or his cient to get a double downgrade.
They have pleaded guilty and only want to prove that it was a grade-one offence not a grade three.
6pm update: Asofa-Solomona has arrived at NRL HQ with legal eagle Nick Ghabar and Storm football manager Frank Ponissi to front the judiciary panel.
Nelson Asofa-Solomona. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
5pm update: Asofa-Solomona has flown to Sydney to face an expedited NRL judiciary hearing.
The Storm will seek a downgrading with Asofa-Solomona for the four-match ban for the high tackle that knocked out Collins.
Asofa-Solomona has pleaded guilty, but will push for a double downgrade from a grade-three to a grade-one offence and instead argue he should only receive a $3000 fine.
The Storm were shocked that their star Kiwi prop was handed a grade-three charge, and immediately sought the advice of lawyer Nick Ghabar, who will represent Asofa-Solomona on Monday night.
The Storm have previously had success in similar circumstances, with Billy Slater avoiding a ban for a shoulder charge in the 2018 grand final week.
If Asofa-Solomona fails in his bid to downgrade the charge, he will receive a five-game ban.
Beyond the grand final, three of those matches would likely be absorbed by New Zealand’s Pacific Championships campaign.
with AAP
