Manly Sea Eagles prop Toafofoa Sipley has been sensationally referred to the NRL judiciary over a hip drop tackle on Thursday evening.
The tackle came during the second half of Manly's loss to the St George Illawarra Dragons, and saw the prop sin binned.
Dragons outside back Mat Feagai suffered a leg injury out of the tackle, and it's now believed he could miss a significant amount of time with a potential fracture, which scans will confirm in the coming days.
The penalty was originally for a high shot from Siosiua Taukeiaho before the bunker ruled it as a hip drop on the part of Sipley.
"It was quite a bizarre one. They said it was a high tackle from Siua to start with, then it became a hip drop is what they ruled," coach Anthony Seibold said during the post-match press conference.
Further complicating matters was the fact Sipley went off for a head injury assessment at the same time as he was sin binned, although he later passed the concussion test and returned to the game during the closing stages.
The end of his sin bin saw the 15 minutes for the test not yet elapse, and as a result, Nathan Brown was placed into the game until Sipley returned in the 66th minute when he took the place of Siosiua Taukeiaho.
Manly captain Daly Cherry-Evans said during the press conference that he hoped the fact Sipley was concussed would play into the penalty - or potentially lack of penalty - faced by the prop, even though he passed his HIA.
"I think he might have got concussed from the elbow and then might have lost his legs a bit, so I think it looks pretty accidental from what I saw out there," Cherry-Evans said.
The lack of a grade means Sipley will face the judiciary on Tuesday evening, although the NRL have not provided any explanation as to why he has been referred directly.
No other charges were handed out by the MRC for Thursday evening's game.
