Rugby league: Williams suspended for 18 weeks

8.15am

Danny Williams has been suspended for 18 matches by the NRL.

The decision was taken two weeks after he pleaded guilty to an ungraded striking charge.

The ban will carry over to England should he try to play there when his contract with Melbourne Storm ends this year.

The judiciary panel heard more than three and a half hours of medical evidence in Sydney at the hearing, the NRL's website reported.

Williams had pleaded guilty to striking Wests Tigers opponent Mark O'Neill.

However, he argued diminished responsibility, saying he was suffering post-traumatic amnesia from an earlier high tackle inflicted by O'Neill.