{"id":64183,"date":"2021-04-28T09:51:41","date_gmt":"2021-04-28T09:51:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=64183"},"modified":"2021-04-28T15:00:11","modified_gmt":"2021-04-28T15:00:11","slug":"kaufusi-refuses-to-apologise-for-matterson-hit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=64183","title":{"rendered":"Kaufusi refuses to apologise for Matterson hit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melbourne Storm second-rower Felise Kaufusi has addressed his ugly elbow to Ryan Matterson's head<\/a> for the first time – but he's refused to make an apology.<\/p>\n

The Queensland State of Origin forward copped a two-game ban after appearing to strike Matterson's head with his right elbow as the Parramatta Eels back-rower fell to ground in a tackle in round two.<\/p>\n

Matterson suffered a concussion and is finally set to return to the field when the Eels meet the Canterbury Bulldogs at Stadium Australia on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Kaufusi said he hadn't reached out to Matterson and maintained that he played hard but fair.<\/p>\n

"It's just one of those things that happened in the game," Kaufusi said on Sydney's Nine News<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

"There was no intent and unfortunately he has had some previous head-knock injuries.<\/p>\n

"I love being aggressive, playing hard, but obviously well within the rules.<\/p>\n

"Unfortunately that one did hit him over the head, but I don't go out there to intentionally hurt someone."<\/p>\n

\"Felise\u00a0Kaufusi\u00a0on\u00a0report\u00a0for\u00a0hit\u00a0on\u00a0Ryan\u00a0Matterson\"<\/p>\n

Former Cronulla Sharks and NSW Blues captain Paul Gallen said in the aftermath of the incident that Kaufusi hadn't done anything wrong<\/a>.<\/p>\n

"I don't think it was the elbow that concussed him," Gallen said on Nine's 100% Footy<\/em>.<\/p>\n

"It think the elbow was a glancing blow.<\/p>\n

"It was the force with which he hit the ground that knocked him out."<\/p>\n

But Penrith Panthers and Sydney Roosters legend Brad Fittler voiced the opposite view, saying the NRL must get more serious about head injuries.<\/p>\n

"We're at a place with knowing more about our bodies and our brains. Careless and reckless things that happen in a game – you need to come down harder," Fittler said on 2GB's Wide World of Sports radio at the time of Kaufusi's elbow.<\/p>\n

"Four to six weeks might have been something better (than two weeks).<\/p>\n

"All of a sudden your coach isn't backing you, saying that was stupid and you're going to cost the team."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Melbourne Storm second-rower Felise Kaufusi has addressed his ugly elbow to Ryan Matterson's head for the first time – but he's refused to make an […]<\/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\/64183"}],"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=64183"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64185,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64183\/revisions\/64185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}