Burgess and Packer elbows different, says NRL
The NRL has defended its decision to rub Sam Burgess out for two matches following his dangerous contact charge over the weekend, despite a similar looking raised-arm incident involving Wests Tiger prop Russell Packer going unpunished.
Burgess unsuccessfully challenged the charge at the NRL judiciary on Tuesday night and will now miss Friday's clash with ladder-leading rivals St George Illawarra, and the following weekend's local derby against the Sydney Roosters.
High elbow: Josh Morris stays down after a collision with Sam Burgess.
Photo: AAPHe was placed on report in the second half of Souths' narrow win over Canterbury after his raised elbow made contact with the throat of Josh Morris, leaving the Bulldogs centre writhing in pain.
Three days later Packer's arm collected defender Kaysa Pritchard high, knocking the Parramatta hooker unconscious, but the Bunker decided in the immediate aftermath that a penalty wasn't warranted allowing play to continue once the injured player had been helped from the field.
NRL match review co-ordinator Michael Buettner said the two incidents were substantially different.
"In the Sam Burgess case, he raised his elbow/forearm in the direction of the defending player, making dangerous contact to the neck/throat of Josh Morris," Buettner said.
"There was an unacceptable risk of injury involved, and his actions were considered careless.
“Russell Packer was not raising his forearm – he was bracing. In fact it was the non ball-carrying arm – or the arm furthest away from the defender – which made contact with the defender. It was also tucked into his body.
“It was also noted that he was also effectively ricocheted into the Parramatta defender following initial contact from another player.
“Russell Packer’s actions aren’t deemed careless, reckless or intentional.”
Souths coach Anthony Seibold was left seething after the incident was reported on Friday night, but bit his tongue following the judiciary outcome on Tuesday.
Burgess' teammate and brother Tom, however, was concerned that diving to win a penalty was starting to creep its way into the league.
While quick to admit Morris was genuinely hurt after the incident on Friday - the Bulldogs centre took several days to recover - Tom Burgess said any incentive for a player to take a dive needed to be stamped out immediately.
"We just don't want players to be going down for no reason, we don't want to go down that route," Burgess said.
"That's not what our game's about. It's not in our nature, it's the easy option I think, I wouldn't like to see that become a part of our game."
Fullback Billy Slater was involved in a theatrical incident on Friday that led to the sin binning of Cronulla's Luke Lewis. The Melbourne Storm veteran brushed past Lewis while taking a quick tap, and immediately went to ground despite replays showing minimal, if any contact between the two players.
Penrith coach Anthony Griffin also spoke about the prospect of taking a dive this year following his side's round-three loss to Canterbury, after Panther James Maloney was impeded by a decoy runner in the lead up to a Moses Mbye try.
The Bunker awarded the try, before NRL referees' boss Bernard Sutton admitted the following week that they'd made the wrong decision.
In that instance, Maloney recovered after being impeded to attempt a covering tackle, but was unable to prevent Mbye scoring.
"If you've got to take a dive to save a try, that's what they're encouraging you to do if they let tries like that in," Griffin said after the match.
"We don't want that, no way," Burgess said.
"If he's impeded and he's actually hit off the ball then fair enough it's an obstruction. I don't think players should be trying to find that by going down."