MATT SCOTT TO MISS ONE WEEK
JUDICIARY OUTCOME
A TOUGH week for Cowboys prop Matt Scott has continued after he failed to have a shoulder charge ban overturned by the NRL judiciary last night.
Scott will be unavailable for the Cowboys’ trip to Manly on Thursday and have 50 carryover points after he was suspended for the first time in his career.
Via video link, the judiciary deliberated for 12 minutes before finding Scott guilty of a grade one careless shoulder charge on Melbourne Storm centre Young Tonumaipea in the 11th minute of Friday’s 7- 6 loss.
Scott and Cowboys coach Paul Green argued that Scott had used both arms when making the tackle, and had shown a relevant duty of care for both players involved. Scott told the judiciary that Tonumaipea’s late change of direction stepping off his left foot had caused him to stumble, forcing him to adjust his tackle to avoid a potential head clash.
The judiciary argued that Scott didn’t attempt to wrap his arm around Tonumaipea until after the forceful contact occurred.
It’s another blow for Scott, who was a shock omission from the Queensland Origin side named for Game One on Monday.
The decision will force the Cowboys to make further changes to an already depleted forward pack as they look to recover from a horror 9- 3 start to the year.
Gavin Cooper and Coen Hess are in Queensland camp, John Asi- ata ( pectoral) and Jordan McLean ( foot) are out long term, while Scott’s front row partner Scott Bolton ( rib cartilage) is in doubt to face the Sea Eagles.
“It’s disappointing, obviously it didn’t go the way we wanted it to,” Scott said. “I thought I had a pretty good argument with two areas of the charge, using both arms and a duty of care.
“I’ve seen a lot of other tackles in games recently that are a lot more dangerous and resulted in injury. It’s quite frustrating to be given a week for, in my opinion, a pretty innocuous tackle.”
Scott said similar tackles were commonplace in the game.
“I’m seeing a lot of those situations caused by playing a physical game,” he said. “It’s a fast game and there’s a lot of situations where you get yourself into some positions you don’t want to be in.
“I thought I did as much as I could to make that situation not dangerous, but the panel didn’t think so.
“If I had have continued with the tackle as I was going to, there’s no doubt in my mind there would have been a head clash and one or two serious injuries.”