The North Queensland Cowboys hopes of a second-place finish have taken a further hit following their 20-10 loss to the South Sydney Rabbitohs, with back-rower Coen Hess to face at least one week on the sidelines following a careless tackle on Campbell Graham.
The incident occurred in the 74th minute and initially appeared to look like a head clash. Graham went down immediately, but Hess was also clearly dazed as he was pushed over by Souths fullback Latrell Mitchell, staying on the ground for a short while as well.
The Grade 2 charge means that Hess will automatically miss a match despite it being his first offence, and though he can challenge at the judiciary, a further guilty finding would have him out for the first week of the finals as well.
In confusing scenes, Hess was sin-binned for the offence and the Cowboys finished the game a man down, but despite the charge, the sin bin and the fact Graham was prone on the ground immediately after the incident, the South Sydney centre was allowed to finish the game and wasn’t sent for an HIA, only leaving the field briefly before returning.
The scenes left a number of commentators perplexed, including Fox Sports' Cooper Cronk, who commented on the confusing scenes after the game.
“If you freeze it, there probably is shoulder contact to Campbell Graham, so at first I was like ‘no worries, I understand this,” Cronk said.
“But then when Campbell Graham doesn’t even have an HIA, doesn’t have any protocols, leaves the field and comes back on as a foul play replacement, I think that’s a little strange. That’s a grey area that needs to be cleaned up.
“There’s a loophole there because the (sin bin) decision is made straight away, but the referee or bunker aren’t determining whether that’s a HIA assessment for Graham.
“It’s a loophole that needs to be ironed out.”