Former Warriors player Motu Tony feels changes are needed to the game’s judicial laws after Jacob Laban was ruled out for six weeks with a broken leg, while the player who caused the injury, Felise Kaufusi, will serve a two-match ban.
In the 74th minute of the Warriors’ clash withthe Dolphins, Laban hit the ball up and was grabbed by two defenders but picked up extra metres with a strong leg drive before Kaufusi came in below the knees, creating a hip-drop tackle that caused the injury.
Referee Ashley Klein sent Kaufusi to the sinbin, giving the Warriors the numerical advantage on the field for the remainder of the contest, but the Dolphins still managed to claim a 20-18 win.
Kaufusi was slapped with a Grade 2 Dangerous Contact charge and a two-match ban, but it’s understood the Warriors are fuming behind closed doors as they believe the match review committee should have upgraded the charge after learning of the severity of the injury, which would have increased the suspension.
Tony told Newstalk ZB that the incident was unfortunate, but more needs to be done to stamp it out of the sport.
“No rugby league player in the professional ranks goes out there to deliberately hurt players,” Tony said.
”It waslawmakers
Former Warriors player Motu Tony. Photo / Photosport
“The lawmakers will need to determine how they can stamp that out of the game because they’ve done well in policing these dangerous tackles where there’s unnecessary pressure placed on the lower limbs.
“I think Andrew Webster is well within his rights to have a complaint or have an issue with the tackle because he’s lost a quality young player as a result.”
The 17 minutes Laban spent on the field were arguably his finest of the season coming off the interchange bench. With many key forwards missing, the 21-year-old stood up with some strong carries and great defence, to the degree that Warriors coach Webster probably should have brought him on earlier.
His presence was missed on the final play of the game, where Leka Halasima was down on the ground with cramp, while others including Erin Clark were struggling to run.
The Dolphins shifted the ball from right to left, drawing in half of the Warriors defence before moving right again, where they had an overlap for Jamayne Isaako to score the winner in the corner.
In the final play the Warriors defence shifted far to one side, which created an overlap on the right. Photo / Sky Sport
Webster was reluctant to get into the weeds of the issue but wanted consistency around rulings on future incidents.
“I hate it when they say, ‘We’re going to crack down on this, we’re going to go hard and stamp it out’,” Webster said. “They just need to be consistent, so the punishment fits the crime.
“This decision was made before they received that information and it’s up to them what they do with that.
“I don’t want to get into hot water, but the process just didn’t seem consistent.”
It was the second straight week a Warriors player has been injured in that sort of tackle, with Demitric Vaimauga suffering a knee sprain against the Titans, which he has appeared to overcome to be named in the team to face the Bulldogs on Saturday.
Chanel Harris-Tavita and James Fisher-Harris are also in contention to return, with the Warriors needing to win to keep their spot in the top four heading into the final month of the regular season.
