PENRITH talisman Nathan Cleary has beaten a high tackle charge and will be available for round one against Brisbane.
With is father and coach Ivan representing him, Cleary successfully argued that his tackle on Wests Tigers’ Heamasi Makasini last Friday fit the criteria for grade one – not grade two.
It took 12 minutes for the panel to downgrade the charge.
“He is already resting on his laurels now, I think, but it is definitely thank you to him,” Nathan said in reference to his father.
‘I am disappointed I had to put him through that little bit of extra work outside of his normal job, but I am grateful for his effort.
“I had no say in the matter. He was pretty confident.
“There were mixed thoughts because I think the last few times he has been to the judiciary it hasn’t worked out too well but I trusted him and we thought we had a pretty good case, so I am glad the panel could see that as well”.
In a statement of findings issued later, judiciary chairman Geoff Bellew said:
– That player Cleary had initially planted his feet prior to making contact.
– That on the Panel’s analysis of the footage, any upward trajectory on the part of player Cleary occurred after contact had been made with the ball carrier.
– The Panel considered that the ball carrier juggled the ball and simultaneously lowered his body height shortly before contact was made, which had the effect of significantly altering the point of impact.
– And the Panel were satisfied that the primary contact was player Cleary’s shoulder on the shoulder of the ball carrier.
In the northern hemisphere, Huddersfield Giants’ Sam Hewitt received a charge that will result in a suspension if he does not challenge it.
The charge relates to a late hit in the 18-16 defeat to Wakefield on Sunday.
Hull FC’s Liam Knight was charged over to incidents – head contact and a throw or lift – while Wigan centre Adam Keighran received demerit points for a late hit.
Others to suffer similar fates were Toulouse Olympique’s Rob Butler, Castleford’s Joe Stimson, Catalans’ Lewis Dodd, Wakefield’s Tyson Smoothy and Seth Nikotemo