Nathan Cleary is free to play in Penrith’s preliminary final next week after the world’s best player was hit with a grade 1 dangerous contact charge by the match review committee.
It’s a huge relief for the premiership favourites and means the Panthers don’t have to brace for a season-defining decision if he had copped a grade 2 charge.
That would have meant a one-match ban offer, with Cleary risking a two-match ban if he fought the charge and lost, which would rule him out of the grand final should Penrith qualify.
But they don’t have to worry about that anymore, with Cleary having to pay a $1000 fine that he’ll happily do now that he’s free to play in the grand final qualifier against either the Warriors or Knights.
Cleary was sent to the sin bin for running through Hugo Savala’s legs as the Roosters five-eighth put in a clearing kick with 13 seconds to go in the first half of Sunday’s qualifying final.
The four-time premiership winner knew he’s done the wrong thing and was immediately sent to the sin bin before he returned and kicked the field goal to put his team up by a point late in the contest.
“There was a lot of guilt and I felt like I let the boys down. It was a super stupid decision,” Cleary told the Matty Johns Show after the game.
“I thought I saw an opportunity to make a big play on half time but it was the opposite.”
He is easily the best player in the world right now after leading the Blues to Origin glory this year, with Cleary expected to win his first Dally M Medal in a few weeks.
Panthers coach Ivan Cleary was adamant after the game that his son didn’t deserve a ban.
“God no. Of course not,” he said.
“He’s just trying to make a play, so I think he’s probably thinking the right thing there, but the angle was wrong and under the current rules that’s what it is.
“I must say though, the same thing happened to him down near the goalposts earlier in the game (when James Tedesco made contact).
“You could tell he was definitely disappointed. He was thinking the right thing in terms of trying to make a play at that point.”
There have been several players charged for similar incidents, with Canberra’s Zac Hosking copping a grade one for his tackle on Reece Walsh in last year’s finals, while Storm skipper Harry Grant was found not guilty at the judiciary.
Australian Rugby League Commission chairman Peter V’landys was shocked when he saw Cleary’s contact on Savala.
“I’m like everybody else; I’m a big fan of Nathan. But he has to be treated the same as any other player,” he told the NewsWire before the charge came out.
“He’s a superstar, and he realised himself at the time that it was an accident. He didn’t do the wrong thing; accidents happen in games. Like the rest of us, I was a bit shocked, but he came back and just showed how good a player he is.”
Originally published as Panthers star Nathan Cleary escapes suspension for ‘stupid’ dangerous tackle