South Sydney Rabbitohs bench forward Jed Cartwright has dispelled the rumours of Penrith Pantherโs trainer Pete Green sledging him about a previous back injury.
The issue came to light after Cody Walker had to be taken away from a heated confrontation with Green after the Panthers' preliminary final win on Saturday.
Cartwright has now confirmed there was nothing said his way to cause any offence.
โItโs just been blown out of proportion,โ Cartwright told theย Herald.
โI am good mates with Pete. We got along really well when I was at Penrith. He never said anything about my back. He just said something about the tackle that I made.
โWe spoke about it after the game and we have since texted about it and weโre all good. Iโm ready to move on and heโs ready to move on. Thatโs it.
โHe said nothing about my back. I have all the respect in the world for Pete. Itโs hard when you lose a preliminary final. I just went up to him and spoke about what I heard and what he told me and then we put it to bed then and there. Itโs been blown up from that.โ
Further confirming nothing happened was Pantherโs fullback Dylan Edwards, who stated Green was talking to him at the moment in question.
โHe was talking to me,โ he said.
โThere was no sledge about any old previous injuries or anything like that.
โHe was talking to me about it being a tackle and said something like. โGet back up Dyl, let him have that oneโ.
"Peteโs such a great guy. I canโt speak highly enough of him.โ
In the immediate aftermath of the issue and without all the available information, Jed's father and former premiership-winning Panther, John Cartwright claimed Green should get a life ban.
But as often happens in rugby league, these comments were aired on NRL360,ย with all four hosts condemning the trainer before the truth could come out.
It's not the first time Green has come under fire, with the trainer suspended and heavily fined for an incident in last year's semi-final win over Parramatta, where he secured a controversial stoppage in play for a suspected injury, despite the fact no assessment had been conducted.
Though he was unable to partake in last year's grand final as a result of the subsequent ban, he will be free to fulfil his duties this Sunday.
