Warriors back star after ban
It may work in their favour this weekend but the Warriors took no pleasure at seeing Dragons prop Teuila Fotu-moala become the first player suspended in NRLW history.
The Kiwi Ferns star will miss the competition’s first standalone fixture in Auckland on Sunday and the rest of the competition after receiving a three-match ban for a crusher tackle during last week’s loss to the Broncos.
Fotu-moala unsuccessfully sought a downgrade of a level-two dangerous contact charge on Tuesday night and the heavy punishment has put the spotlight on the NRLW’S judicial system.
The women’s premiership carries the same penalties as the NRL in every charge, despite only running for three regular-season rounds plus the grand final.
Warriors hooker Krystal Rota was ‘‘gutted’’ for her Kiwi Ferns team-mate and felt it was an area the governing body needed to address.
‘‘Rules are rules and it’s good to see some consistency with the NRL and trying to implement that into the women’s game, but I thought there might have been a bit more leniency around the timeframe,’’ Rota said.
‘‘It would be nice to be reviewed for the future if this competition is going to continue at only three weeks. We don’t go out there to intentionally hurt people and she’s never been a grub of any sort. I think it’s a really harsh call and I hope they do a review and align it to suit our competition.’’
Rated among the best forwards in the game, Fotu-moala’s absence is a significant blow to the Dragons’ hopes of reaching the grand final.
Should they go on to miss the decider, the ban could carry into her Kiwi Ferns commitments and Warriors coach Luisa Avaiki agreed with Rota that the punishment was excessive.
With the competition so short, the ban highlighted the need for teams to be spot-on with their discipline and Avaiki planned to address that with her players.
But she doesn’t want it to affect their physicality.
‘‘We don’t want girls holding back because they’re worried about sitting out for two or three weeks,’’ the coach said.
‘‘It’s good for our girls to be aware of that information and what could possibly happen if we don’t get our tackle technique right.’’
With Kiwi Ferns skipper Honey Hireme still unavailable as she cares for her seriously ill mother, Avaiki has named an unchanged starting lineup from last week’s win over the Roosters.
The standalone game doubles as the team’s first ever home game and there was a buzz amongst the squad as they look forward to playing in front of family and friends.