Parramatta forward J’maine Hopgood has been hit with what will be a controversial ban by the NRL’s match review committee.
Hopgood can accept a one-game suspension for an incident the MRC judged a grade two careless high tackle.
It happened when Storm forward Alec MacDonald fell into Hopgood’s shoulder early in Thursday night’s game at AAMI Park, leaving MacDonald concussed and out for the rest of the game.
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It will no doubt cause a stir given Hopgood did little wrong, and actually got hit in the head himself.
On-field referee Todd Smith claimed it was “direct shoulder contact to the head” and the Bunker official agreed, sending Hopgood to the bin.
Replays seemed to show it was merely a head clash.
Alec MacDonald is hit in the head by J’maine Hopgood. Nine
“What about his head?” Eels captain Mitchell Moses was heard asking, but Smith wanted none of it.
NRL legends Andrew Johns and Billy Slater agreed Hopgood had done nothing wrong.
“He was out before he hit the ground, MacDonald,” Johns said on Nine.
“It’s a head clash… I think the first contact is head on head.
“He is standing quite tall, Hopgood, and if anything it’s the left-foot step of MacDonald (that results in the contact).
“It’s accidental.”
Storm icon Slater agreed.
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“You can see J’maine Hopgood’s head shake with the contact,” Slater said.
It once again calls the consistency of the Bunker process and match review committee into question after Bulldogs captain Stephen Crichton last week avoided the bin and a charge despite his shoulder colliding with the head of Dragons rookie Setu Tu in Vegas.
Hopgood’s was the only charge to stem from the game on Thursday.
His teammate Brian Kelly was penalised for a high tackle in the second half which Fox League commentator Andrew Voss suggested was worse than the Hopgood incident.
Kelly was penalised but wasn’t sin binned or charged over the incident.
Hopgood will miss next week’s trip to Brisbane unless he can fight the charge at the NRL judiciary and win.
He may have a case to downgrade it to a grade one, which would wipe the suspension, after Penrith halfback Nathan Cleary did just that following a pre-season charge.
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