Sea Eagles captain Daly Cherry-Evans expressed his relief after successfully arguing for a downgrade at the NRL judiciary to maintain his record of never having been suspended.
Cherry-Evans and Manly team-mate Haumolo Olakau'atu were charged with grade two dangerous throw offences for a tackle on Parramatta second-rower Shaun Lane in last Friday night's match at 4 Pines Park.
Olakau'atu pleaded guilty and accepted a two-match suspension, but Cherry-Evans sought a downgrade, risking a three-match suspension if found guilty of the original charge.
"There is definitely a relief, that's probably the best way to summarise it," Cherry-Evans said afterwards.
"We came here pretty confident that there was a fair case to answer for and to get downgraded, so I am really happy with the process."
The Kangaroos and Maroons halfback had never previously been suspended in a 313-match NRL career dating back to 2011 and he agreed that long serving players with clean records should be shown more leniency.
"I'm sure when the time's right, the NRL will look at it but I'll definitely be an advocate for it," said Cherry-Evans, who thanked the Sea Eagles and his legal counsel Nick Ghabar for supporting him.
"It didn't really concern me about having a blemish on the record, it was more around just fighting for what we believe was a fair grading.
"I'm certainly not too worried about that sort of stain on the record, so to speak, but we just genuinely felt like there was a fair case to come here and get a downgrade and that ended up being the case, which is great."
Olakau'atu sent to the sin bin
NRL judiciary chair Geoffrey Bellew SC said panel members Greg McCallum and Tony Puletua had been unanimous in their decision to downgrade the charge against 35-year-old Cherry-Evans.
"In the panel’s view:
- the contribution of player Cherry-Evans to the force exerted on the ball carrier was substantially less than player Olakau’atu;
- the elevation of the ball carrier came primarily from the actions of player Olakau’atu, and;
- by the time the ball carrier had been elevated, player Cherry-Evans had no real involvement in the tackle at all.
"Whilst the Panel were mindful of the fact that there may be situations in which players are equally responsible, they took the view that in this case the culpability of player Cherry-Evans was far less," Bellew said.
"In those circumstances, the Panel concluded that it was appropriate to grade the incident as a grade 1, so as to reflect the differences in culpability."
Cherry-Evans is now free to play in Manly’s match against Canberra this Friday night and will receive a $750 fine for the grade 1 offence.
Judiciary recap
7.45pm – Daly Cherry-Evans has been successful in having his charge downgrade to a grade one offence. He is free to play this week.
7.45pm – We're back on and expecting a verdict any minute. The panel took less than 10 minutes to deliver a verdict.
7.35pm – The evidence has concluded, with the panel now deliberating their verdict.
7.18pm – NRL judiciary chairman Geoffrey Bellew SC is now giving instructions to the panel before their deliberation. “This isn’t about the record of player Cherry Evans, it’s about the tackle and what his involvement is in it.”
7.13pm – Ghabar has been making comparisons with the Hastings-Ofahengaue tackle on Knights fullback Tex Hoy in 2022. Ofahengaue was charged with a grade one offence while Hastings was found guilty by the judiciary of a grade two charge.
“Olakau'atu and Hastings' contribution to the lifting is similar and the role of Cherry-Evans and Ofahengaue is similar. Ofahengaue’s actions were given a grade one charge and Cherry-Evans should be the same.”
6.57pm – Ghabar notes that the referee stopped the game for foul play and sent Olakau'atu to the sin bin, "the only player placed on report for this incident. He was responsible for the lift, the force and the risk of injury.”
6.56pm – Using video footage to support his submission, Ghabar said: “You can see player Olakau'atu is in tight, he has spread his legs and is driving the tackle. Unless player Cherry-Evans is super-human there is nothing he can do to arrest the tackle. The two players had very different roles in the outcome and therefore the players can not be held to the same grading. We accept that he initially contributed to getting player Lane in the position where he could be lifted and that is why he has pleaded guilty. Olakau'atu lifted, Olakau'atu drove and he was the dominant contributor to this tackle.“
6.46pm – Nick Ghabar is now speaking in Cherry-Evans' defence, saying his submission is that it was Olakau'atu who not only stopped Lane but caused him to be elevated.
6.45pm – Giles told the panel that they needed to determine which of the Manly players was the most at fault.
“This type of tackle, with the use of the legs to break the balance, is a contributor. There are two points of contact by the two players and what you have to determine is which is the most substantial contributor.”
6.34pm – Giles had only one question, and describes Cherry-Evans as a role model and ornament to the game. However, he said the tackle was dangerous.
“My submission is that the most substantial contribution to the grading was the placing of the player in an elevated position. Even if player Olakau'atu hadn’t entered the tackle he was already in a dangerous position. The player has stated that he uses his leg and in this case that acts as a fulcrum. He has used this many times without any problem but in this case the player was put in a dangerous position.”
6.33pm – Giles is cross examining Cherry-Evans and suggests rather than releasing his grip on Lane, the outcome would have been better if he had held on.
“I don’t think it will shame anyone to say they are both big guys - 6'4" & 6'5" tall - so I don’t think I could do anything there," Cherry-Evans said.
6.27pm – Cherry-Evans continues to give evidence.
“Here I can feel something has gone wrong. With the size of the other two people in the tackle I don’t feel I could do anything. I admit that I played a role in the tackle but I feel the tackle got to a point where it was out of my control.”
6.25pm – Cherry-Evans is giving evidence while watching video footage of the tackle. He is on the right of Olakau'atu, who is set to tackle Hopgood. Lane is running at Cherry-Evans and receives a pass from Hopgood. He acknowledges he made first contact with Lane and said he tried to use his right leg to pull Lane over it and to the ground.
“I’m starting to tackle him the way I have in the past with some of the bigger guys. It is not the first choice of tackle but it is definitely a tackle I have used. I have got very comfortable with it and have never hurt anyone. Lane starts to not just fall forward he starts to lift up. Haumole has a lifting action. I have made a lot of these types of tackles and never put anyone in a dangerous position. This started to feel different. Usually, I would fall to the ground in the tackle. I stayed standing, because the momentum in the tackle changes and doesn’t feel natural.”
6.12pm – The hearing has been shown numerous replays of the tackle from eight different camera angles.
6.09pm – Ghabar has served notice that he will seek to draw comparisons with a tackle by Joe Ofahengaue and Jackson Hastings while playing for Wests Tigers in 2022, which resulted in grade one charges against both players.
6.05pm – The NRL legal counsel is Lachlan Giles SC while the panel members are former player Tony Puletua and ex-referee Greg McCallum, with Geoffrey Bellew acting as chairman.
6.00pm – We are underway at Rugby League Central in Sydney. Cherry-Evans is represented by Nick Ghabar while Sea Eagles coach Anthony Seibold and football manager John Bonasera are also in attendance.
5.50pm – Daly Cherry-Evans has entered an early guilty plea but is contesting the grading of the charge. If found guilty at the panel, he faces a three-week ban while a successful verdict for the Sea Eagles captain would see him pay a fine.
