Gold Coast captain Kevin Proctor is set to plead not guilty to the charge of allegedly biting Shaun Johnson, per Fox Sports.
Proctor has been sent to the judiciary for dangerous conduct and is set to deny the charge.
โI will be telling the NRL judiciary I didnโt bite Shaun Johnson,โ Proctor told the Courier Mail.
โMy record in this game speaks for itself.
โI didnโt bite him, I am 100 per cent on that.
โI will fight to the death to clear my name.
โRugby league has been going on for 112 years and no-one has ever been sent off for alleged biting.
โIโm so pissed off about this.
โTo be accused of biting someone is the lowest thing you can face as a footballer.โ
Proctor's response to the allegation persuaded Braith Anasta to believe nothing malicious had occurred in the incident.
โThe fact heโs so strong on it, Iโm starting to doubt myself a little bit and I want to keep looking at the bite to see if Iโm rightโฆ but unless Iโm going crazy I still believe it is a bite,โ he told the Sunday Ticket.
Ben Ikin said Proctor will have to show plenty of evidence to escape a sanction.
โHe clearly thinks he didnโt bite him on purpose, Shaun Johnson feels something on his arm, he immediately reacts, apparently cameras have picked up a bite mark, which Kevin Proctor says itโs not true and that canโt have happened.
โHeโs going to get his day in front of the judiciary, heโs going to be able to argue his case, so if he absolutely believes he did not do this and heโs got the evidence to support his case then he will get off but based on what Iโve seen thus far, that looks and smells like a bite to me.โ
Proctor had originally thought that the match referee had sent him off for 10 minutes in the sin bin.
โIt was a massive over-reaction from the refs in my eyes,โ he said.
โIโm hoping the NRL can show some understanding on this.
โBeing sent off and embarrassed for something I did not do was penalty enough."
โI couldnโt believe I would get sent off. I actually thought I was going to get the penalty for โShaunyโ putting his forearm around my throat and face.
โNot once did I think I would get sent-off. We were having a heated argument as mates do. When you know opposition players so well, you often have that banter to get one over them.
โI initially thought I got sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes. After that 10 minutes, I said to our football manager Anthony Laffranchi, โHow many minutes left?โ and he said, โMate you are gone for the gameโ.
โI thought the sin bin was bad, but when I realised I was sent off, I was gutted.โ
Proctor also revealed that Johnson's arm was causing him to suffocate.
โIt was a weird situation. I felt like I was being choked. I could feel my mouth being forced open and the pressure on my throat was getting tighter and tighter. I was finding it harder to breathe.
Despite the incident, Proctor was agitated that he had let down his teammates.
โMy honest answer is I didnโt bite Shaun. I have played 250 games of NRL and never been suspended. I have never bitten anyone in my life. I donโt want to be portrayed as a biter because no player in the NRL wants to be seen as a dirty player like that.
โIโm devastated because my 250th game will be remembered for me being sent off for biting someone. That dampens my achievement forever, itโs a sour ending to a milestone game.
โI am filthy that I let my teammates down. We were still in the battle, it was 12-all, and because of my send off we lost the game.โ
