The two-week suspension of Sharks lock Dale Finucane for a head-clash in last week’s lost to Penrith has been heavily scrutinised this week, with players and analysts expressing concerns that it creates a grey area around the issue moving forward.
The head clash occurred towards the end of last weekend’s contest, with Finucane escaping any punishment on the field despite a lengthy delay as medical staff assessed Stephen Crichton, who later required plastic surgery.
Penrith co-captain and NSW Blues lock Isaah Yeo admitted he could see both sides of the situation and accepted the onus was largely on defenders to prevent these incidents occurring – but he is also concerned about how these incidents are judged moving forward.
“I see both sides of it. I’m close with Dale and respect him a lot, but I also see Stephen’s side,” Yeo told Zero Tackle.
“But this is the first suspension we’ve seen for a head clash. They labelled it careless. I listened to the arguments – he’s definitely made contact with the head, and he could have avoided it, but he was just trying to help his team.
“I can see both sides, but (the ruling) makes it all a bit more of a grey area for the future.
“There will be a lot more scrutiny of it now, but you’d hate to miss a semi-final for something like that.”
Yeo said that even with a conscious effort to minimise the risk, the pace and intensity of the modern game will make it hard to remove these incidents altogether.
“There’s always going to be a bit of risk, the game is played at such a high speed,” Yeo said.
“But the onus is on the defender as much as possible so… if there’s any chance you can try and avoid it, that’s up to the individual (to assess the risk).”
Not everyone was as pragmatic in their assessment of the suspension, with respected league analyst Phil Gould going a lot harder at the judiciary process.
“People asserting authority in defence, coming out of the line because they read the opposition… has been thrown into turmoil through this ridiculous decision,” Gould said on his Six Tackles With Gus podcast.
“You have totally changed the dynamic of our game if people can’t come out of the line and hunt down opposition players carrying the ball. To say the decision to rush the line was careless and it’s not standard technique to make first contact is absolutely ridiculous.”
The former coach and player cited this year’s Origin series as an example of the importance of anticipation in modern defence, and asked whether the case would have even been brought to the judiciary were it not for the unfortunate result.
“We just had a fantastic Origin series – how many times did we see people race out of the line to try and tackle someone? That’s the game, that’s the risk (the players) understand.”
“I don’t know where this leaves the game now.
“If Stephen Crichton wasn’t injured, it was just a heavy collision and both players get up – do you think we’d have heard of this again?
“It’s the split ear that’s made the difference. If he hits him three centimetres either side do you think we’d hear about this again?”
“If Dale Finucane knocks himself out and Crichton got up would we even be hearing about this?”
Finucane will miss the Sharks’ next two games – a crucial clash against South Sydney and a local derby with the Dragons.