Bulldogs skipper Stephen Crichton has been charged three days after his side went down to the Storm in Melbourne, but the NRL has confirmed that the delayed call has nothing to do with controversial new powers given to the Australian Rugby League Commission.
The match review committee was criticised for not charging the representative centre for attacking the head of Storm fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen, with initial reports that he would receive a concerning act notice.
But on Monday afternoon, an updated charge sheet was released that included a grade 1 contrary conduct charge for Crichton that will incur a $1000 fine if he takes the early guilty plea.
The 27th minute incident wasn’t penalised, with the referee later instructed to put the Bulldogs skipper on report for the dangerous contact.
This will be his third fine of the season, but it has nothing to do with the ARLC’s new discretionary powers to have players sent straight to the judiciary for incidents missed by the MRC.
That move was not well received by the Rugby League Players Association, but this falls under a change to the code back in March 2022 that was explained in the release below.
“The match review will remain independent, with the NRL CEO and ARL Commission having the ability to refer matters for the MRC to review an incident for charging not already captured by the match review committee.”
Originally published as Stephen Crichton charge not linked to controversial new ARLC powers