Cotric facing four-game ban for dangerous throw
Nick Cotric faces a four-game ban after the match review committee charged the Raiders star, who was the first player sent off in the NRL this season.
The 20-year-old was slapped with a grade three dangerous throw for his tackle on Dragons centre Tim Lafai on Sunday night. He will miss three games if he lodges an early guilty plea and four games if he fights the charge and loses at the NRL judiciary on Tuesday night.
He became the first player sent off in the NRL since Melbourne centre Curtis Scott was marched for punching Manly's Dylan Walker last year.
Cotric was playing his first game back from a syndesmosis injury, which robbed him of a chance to feature in the last two games of NSW's State of Origin triumph.
Raiders coach Ricky Stuart fumed the decision was "very harsh" and said people who thought it was a spear tackle "don't know the game of rugby league" after Canberra belted the Dragons 36-14 in Wollongong.
Cotric's teammate Jarrod Croker admitted he was stunned by the decision to send Cotric off.
"I was very shocked," Croker said. "I only saw it with the naked eye and my first instance was a penalty and maybe on report, but I was very shocked when he pointed the finger.
"It's an accident and he doesn't have a bad bone in his body, Nick. There's no intent or malice in it and I'm sure the judiciary will see it that way."
The Raiders will host the Tigers in Canberra on Saturday before trips to Penrith and New Zealand followed by a crunch clash against the Roosters in the nation's capital.