{"id":129205,"date":"2021-09-15T02:24:04","date_gmt":"2021-09-15T02:24:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=129205"},"modified":"2021-09-15T02:58:02","modified_gmt":"2021-09-15T02:58:02","slug":"icon-fumes-at-nrl-over-ridiculous-final-straw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=129205","title":{"rendered":"Icon fumes at NRL over &#039;ridiculous&#039; final straw"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Phil Gould has questioned the heavy-handedness of the NRL judiciary, declaring that Roosters hooker Sam Verrills should not have even had a case to answer, let alone be suspended for two weeks.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/nrl\/news-2021-sydney-roosters-sam-verrills-judiciary-hearing-outcome-manly-sea-eagles\/227868bb-5eba-4a45-8fbd-6ce9a3fab30e\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"After his club failed in their bid to get a high tackle charge downgraded\">After his club failed in their bid to get a high tackle charge downgraded<\/a>, the 22-year-old will now miss this weekend&#x27;s clash with Manly, and a potential preliminary final showdown with arch-rivals South Sydney.<\/p>\n<p><img data-video-id=\"6272041686001\" src=\"https:\/\/vms-network-images-prod.s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com\/2021\/09\/380463\/pickerimage.jpg\" alt=\"NRL Highlights: The Roosters beat the Titans in an Instant Classic! - Elimination Final\" data-vms-id=\"ref:cktfn0aeq001q0gplbe5tp14d\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&quot;I don&#x27;t know how we&#x27;re going to fix this process, but we&#x27;re suspending players way too easily,&quot; Gould told James Bracey on Wide World of Sports <em>Six Tackles with Gus<\/em> podcast.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I don&#x27;t like the idea of having an NRL prosecutor, I don&#x27;t like the fact that it&#x27;s such a court setting in this regard.&quot;<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/nrl\/brisbane-broncos-greats-wally-lewis-sam-thaiday-praise-kevin-walters\/81f43263-6ef9-4dbc-ab6a-ad68bf06eb2d\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Broncos icons back Kevvie despite struggles\">Broncos icons back Kevvie despite struggles<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/nrl\/billy-slater-reportedly-offered-three-year-deal-queensland-maroons-coach\/f8c8f61e-3959-4e96-8291-6979ea97efdc\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"QRL &#x27;in limbo&#x27; after tabling official Slater offer\">QRL &#x27;in limbo&#x27; after tabling official Slater offer<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Verrills was charged with a high tackle on Titans centre Brian Kelly, who was first tackled by backrower Sitili Tupouniua, lowering his body position before reaching Verrills, who then hit him high.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;The NRL prosecutor, in his words to the judiciary last night, said that there was &#x27;moderate force&#x27; in the tackle, and while that was chiefly generated by the man with the ball, Kelly, running at speed, he argues Verrills should have taken that into account,&quot; Gould said.<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"2045e429-93e2-42f7-9c5c-b18b606cb9ca\" src=\"https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/2045e429-93e2-42f7-9c5c-b18b606cb9ca\" alt=\"Sam Verrills hit on Brian Kelly\" data-width=\"1396\" data-height=\"785\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&quot;I&#x27;d like him to go demonstrate what he would have done differently, or what he should have done differently. If he&#x27;s talking about moderate force and it&#x27;s mainly instigated by the man with the ball, then why the hell is Verrills down there anyway?&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Verrills was given a grade two careless high tackle charge, which the club failed to get downgraded.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I just don&#x27;t understand what they think players can do in certain situations to avoid contact with the head when they&#x27;re going through their normal tackling style, and a player trips, stumbles, falls, or is tackled in front of them and falls into them,&quot; Gould said.<\/p>\n<p><img data-video-id=\"6272250699001\" src=\"https:\/\/vms-network-images-prod.s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com\/2021\/09\/380717\/pickerimage.jpg\" alt=\"Sterlo&#x27;s Wrap: Finals Footy at its best - Finals Week 1\" data-vms-id=\"ref:ckti3656y00000gq6w54znc4d\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&quot;The fact that he&#x27;s injured and gets a broken nose, everyone wants to jump up and down and says somebody&#x27;s got to be punished for it.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;It was the man with the ball that created the incident, not Sam Verrills.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>With Jake Friend forced to retire earlier this seaosn, the Roosters will now turn to Ben Marschke to play the dummy half role on Friday night.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/nrl\/news-2021-gold-coast-titans-moeaki-fotuaika-peter-sterling-exclusive\/afaac902-41f4-4278-a7ac-3af84bfd5184\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"Sterlo&#x27;s mammoth call on &#x27;baby&#x27; Titans monster\">Sterlo&#x27;s mammoth call on &#x27;baby&#x27; Titans monster<\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/nrl\/nrl-2021-south-sydney-rabbitohs-credit-defence-for-finals-win-over-penrith-panthers\/1ce137e6-9f1c-465e-bd38-7836ca07799e\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"What Rabbitohs changed to flip title race\">What Rabbitohs changed to flip title race<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Queensland-born Marschke debuted in the NRL earlier this year, after coming through the junior ranks at the Roosters, before lower grade spells at a couple of other clubs.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;There is absolutely nothing that Verrills could have done differently, I see no carelessness in this whatsoever, not even a skerrick of carelessness. Yet the poor kid&#x27;s missing out on two semi-finals and the club has to suffer,&quot; Gould said.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I find the whole thing ridiculous.&quot;<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/login.nine.com.au\/login?client_id=wwos&amp;redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwwos.nine.com.au&amp;newsletter=true\" title=\"clicking here!\"><strong><em>clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Phil Gould has questioned the heavy-handedness of the NRL judiciary, declaring that Roosters hooker Sam Verrills should not have even had a case to answer, <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=129205\" title=\"Icon fumes at NRL over &#039;ridiculous&#039; final straw\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129205"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=129205"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129207,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129205\/revisions\/129207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=129205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=129205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=129205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}