Peter Gough – Michmutters
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Storm star Brandon Smith grilled over hip drop tackle

Cameron Munster has produced a breathtaking display as Melbourne Storm marked a history-making night with a 32-14 win over gutsy cellar-dweller Gold Coast Titans at AAMI Park on Friday night.

But the returning Brandon Smith will be facing a nervous wait after he was put on report for a hip drop tackle late in the first half.

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With the Storm leading 16-4, Smith, who had been out for the last three matches after he was banned for referee Adam Gee a “cheating bastard”, landed himself in hot water when making a legs tackle on the Titans’ Tino Fa’ asuamaleaui.

But in a week where the hip drop has been a hot topic after the Broncos’ Patrick Carrigan was banned for four weeks after his tackle saw the Tigers’ Jackson Hastings break his leg.

Unlike a usual hip drop where two players hold a player before the third man attacks the legs, Smith was in motion, slipping off the tackle and onto Fa’asuamaleaui leg.

But referee Peter Gough said: ““I understand it’s wet and he’s sliding, but what it is, is he throws his legs out which drops the weight on the backfoot.”

Premiership winning coach turned Fox Sports commentator Shane Flanagan wasn’t thrilled with the tackle.

“You can’t do it. You know you can’t put your weight on the back of the legs when a player is going away from you, and he gets himself in a bad position,” Flanagan said.

Post match, Storm coach Craig Bellamy called for the judiciary to look at the incident on its own merits.

“I just hope it gets judged on the tackle, not some of the hysteria that has gone on this week,” Bellamy said.

“That is all we ask.

“If you go on one last week, but how many have there been? If there is one in however many games since the last one.

“Pat Carrigan doesn’t go out on the field to break Hastings’ legs, they are an accident.

“I don’t see it as a real big issue in the game, but I understand that it can injure people, but there hasn’t been a whole heap this year I don’t think.

“I just hope it gets judged on that and not on it being in the news a lot this week.”

It was otherwise a good night for the Storm as they celebrated Bromwich brothers, captain Jesse (290 games) and fellow forward Kenny (211), became the first pair of brothers in NRL history to combine for 500 games (501) with the one club .

Kenny produced a first half try to make it the perfect start to the night.

But it was a hat-trick hero Munster who kickstarted the Storm surges with two first-half tries before adding a third in the second half on a night of brilliance.

Returning to the full back position where he started his career, Munster was safe at the back, dazzled with the extra room to move to rack up 252 run meters and offered tremendous leadership with his voice.

Winger David Nofoaluma, loaned from the Wests Tigers, showed off his speed and elusiveness in an impressive first start with the Storm, while center Young Tonumaipea scored a try in his first game for the Storm since 2018.

Hooker Harry Grant and five-eighth Cooper Johns were also influential for the Storm.

The Storm made a barnstorming start with three tries in the opening 22 minutes.

Xavier Coates, returning from a long-term injury, scored one of the easier tries of his career after Grant flicked out a quick pass to find him unattended in the corner.

Munster rose into the night sky to catch, spin and make his way across the line, before Kenny Bromwich got his try burrowing under Titans defenders Phillip Sami and David Fifita.

It would be a horror night for the Titans after hooker Aaron Booth succumbed to a knee injury.

The 26-year-old had to be helped off the ground by the trainers against his former club after his leg collapsed while attempting to tackle Johns.

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Melbourne Storm, Brandon Smith, hip-drop tackle, Gold Coast Titans, Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, Craig Bellamy, Match Review Committee, Pat Carrigan

Storm star Brandon Smith was placed on report for an alleged hip-drop tackle on Titans skippers Tino Fa’asuamaleaui — and Craig Bellamy has pleaded the Match Review Committee to ignore the “hysteria”.

Smith took out the legs of Fa’asuamaleaui and his teammates Tanah Boyd and Sam McIntyre immediately threw up their arms in protest.

Fox League commentators Dan Ginnane and Shane Flanagan made no mention of the tackle until the Gold Coast lock pulled up licks.

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Replays then showed Smith took out the legs in ugly fashion and referee Peter Gough placed him on report.

“I understand it’s wet and he’s sliding, but it’s (that) he throws his legs out which drops the weight on the back foot, it’s on report,” Gough told Melbourne captain Jesse Bromwich.

“That could be very big. Only a two-man tackle not the familiar three-man tackle where that result occurs,” Ginnane said.

“It doesn’t really matter. You can’t do it, we know you can’t put your weight on the back of the legs when the player is going away from you and he gets himself in a bad position.”

Brandon Smith’s tackle on the Titans captain.Source: Getty Images

It comes after Broncos star Pat Carrigan copped a four-game ban for a hip-drop tackle last weekend that broke the leg of Tigers gun Jackson Hastings — an event that was heavily publicized.

Storm coach Craig Bellamy pleaded with the MRC in the post-match press conference to ignore the reports, hoping his star utility remains on the field.

“I just hope it gets judged on the tackle, not some of the hysteria that has gone on this week,” Bellamy said.

“That is all we ask.

“If you go on one last week, but how many have there been? If there is one in however many games since the last one.

“Pat Carrigan doesn’t go out on the field to break Hastings’ legs, they are an accident.”

Bellamy also said he didn’t believe hip-drop tackles were a big issue in the modern game.

“I don’t see it as a real big issue in the game, but I understand that it can injure people, but there hasn’t been a whole heap this year I don’t think.

“I just hope it gets judged on that and not on it being in the news a lot this week.”

Smith’s tackles was heavily debated on the Fox League halftime panel by ex-players Mick Ennis and Corey Parker.

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“We watched it in full speed live, Brandon Smith is just making the tackle and he falls off the tackle and the fact Tino went on that out line dragged Brandon Smith along with him,” Parker said.

“When you slow it all down to the enth degree like we do it doesn’t look great, but he’s just hanging on.

“If you don’t want to end up in that position then Brandon Smith has to let go of the tackle, otherwise what does he do, it’s a complete accident.

“I don’t see it as a genuine hip drop like we saw with Pat Carrigan last week. If he’s not to end up in that position, he needs to let go which completely goes against everything we talk about in rugby league.

Ennis agreed with Parker but said the tackle would be a “big concern” for the Storm.

“All the talk this week was two players holding the man up then that third tackler coming in and showing no duty of care, I don’t like the position that Tino gets in at the end but I’m not sure what else Brandon Smith could do there other than let go of the tackle,” Ennis said.

“Do we put that down to the duty of care? Is that where we’re going? Maybe we have to, where we’re eliminating players from getting in that position.

“That was a real difficult one, he just ended up in that unfortunate position Brandon Smith and I’m not sure what else he could have done.”

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