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Warriors coach Stacey Jones says Nelson Asofa-Solomona should have been charged for head-rattling hit

Warriors coach Stacey Jones says Nelson Asofa-Solomona should have been charged for head-rattling hit

Storm hardman Nelson Asofa-Solomona is getting away with too much according to Warriors interim coach Stacey Jones who remains “baffled” he wasn’t charged by the NRL match review committee for an incident which left Wayde Egan with two cracked teeth.

Jones went even further and said given Asofa-Solomona’s record of four charges in 2022, which have all resulted in fines, he could be due to a suspension if only to make him think more about his behaviour.

Egan was “rattled” by the incident in which Asofa-Solomona came down on top of him in a tackle last Friday which forced him from the field but was missed as only “minor contact by match review committee manager Luke Patten.

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Asofa-Solomona, who is yet to be suspended this season despite being charged three times for high tackles and one for making dangerous contact with a defender using his forearm, wasn’t even fined for landing his elbow on Egan’s face.

Patten said it was just a case of “two big men on a smaller man” in a prerecorded video shown at football boss Graham Annesley’s weekly media briefing on Monday and there was “no force applied to Egan’s neck”.

Jones, however, saw things differently and thought a chance was missed to send a signal to players about making contact in tackles.

“It’s not a good message,” Jones said, “It’s baffled me a little bit, like everyone else.

“We’re all about protecting our players. The game is so tough and physical.

“Wayde was really rattled. It could have been worse but I thought (Asofa-Solomona) could have at least been charged.”

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Jones said Asofa-Solomona, a New Zealand international, might need to be shown, though a suspension, that he needs to change his ways when tackling.

“It’s about protecting Nelson too, in some sort of way,” he said.

“He plays a physical game and the size of his body and the damage he could do to someone, it could turn out very nasty.

“I’m sure Nelson doesn’t want to have that on him.”

Jones confirmed both departing playmaker Chanel Harris-Tavita and Jazz Tevaga are unlikely to play again this season.

Harris-Tavita has suffered an MCL injury in his knee while Tevaga has a shoulder injury.

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Nelson Asofa-Solomona elbow, Match Review Committee ruling, Luke Patten, Wayde Egan elbow, judicial changes, escaped sanction, news

Nelson Asofa-Solomona elbow, Match Review Committee ruling, Luke Patten, Wayde Egan elbow, judicial changes, escaped sanction, news

NRL Match Review Committee manager Luke Patten has outlined why Storm prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona escaped punishment for an ugly elbow on Wayde Egan — explaining there was only “minor contact”.

Asofa-Solomona’s elbow came down hard on the dummy-half’s chin, forcing him to leave the field in the fourth minute.

The hulking front rower was placed on report for the incident, but escaped sanction — which has since been heavily scrutinized by the rugby league community.

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Patten, who played 282 NRL games, explained the MRC first cleared that the incident didn’t include a crusher tackle.

“There was a number of things for the MRC to consider,” Patten said.

“First of all we identified that there was an extra player, Kaufusi, contributing to the force of the tackle as he joins.

“Two big men, on a smaller man, we identified that Nelson creates space, so there is no crusher force or pressure applied to Egan’s neck here.”

Patten went on to explain that there was “clear separation” between Asofa-Solomona’s elbow and Egan’s head, meaning the MRC cleared a head slam.

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“There was a couple of other things that we needed to clear in this tackle, firstly it was the head slam, we see that there is clear separation from Nelson’s right arm as Wade Egan sort of gets thrown to the ground,” Patten said.

“Nelson has a good grip with his left arm, but there is clear separation, whereas in a head slam you’d see that arm isolate the head and really slam it into the ground.

Then, Patten moved on to the dangerous contact aspect — the exact charge that was handed down to Roosters prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves for a similar incident.

The Tricolours prop dropped his elbow onto the head of debutant Zac Fulton, earning a $3,000 fine with an early plea.

Patten said that in this instance there was only “minor contact” with Egan’s neck, and therefore no further action was taken.

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“We have cleared that because his arm does separate from Egan, secondly was the dangerous contact aspect that we had to clear here,” Patten said.

“As I mentioned previously, Nelson has a grip with his left arm and there is clear separation, in one of the back angles you can see Nelson gets a grip under Egan’s left arm, under the underarm.

“We believe that Nelson’s right arm was diagonal from that grip, so diagonally across his chest and that there might be possible minor contact at the end of the tackle with Nelson’s forearm to possibly the neck and chin area.

“But that was only minor contact, it was a forceful tackle which unfortunately resulted in Egan’s head going into the ground.

“But these were all the things that we considered when we ruled that this accidental incident was ruled NFA for us.”

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