Hughes risks farcical 2-game ban
LEAGUE
The Kiwi international would miss Sunday’s match against Newcastle with an early guilty plea, but risks a second week out if he fights the charge unsuccessfully at the judiciary. If found guilty, Hughes would be the first player banned for contact with a referee since a spate of suspensions during an NRL crackdown in 2016.
Hughes won support from pundits including Brad Fittler, Andrew Johns, Corey Parker and Michael Ennis on Sunday.
“He wouldn’t have even been watching,” Johns said of the Storm halfback on Nine’s Sunday Footy Show.
“He is just watching (Berry). He’s not even looking at the referee. He is a bit hard done by there.
“We need to protect the referees, without a doubt. Especially at junior level. But for me that was an accident.”
Fittler questioned the positioning of Butler, while Ennis was even more scathing of the charge.
“Let’s not gloss over it, it’s absolute stupidity,” Ennis said on Fox.
“The referee gets in his eyeline, gets in his way. Common sense says this is not one of those moments when a player gets frustrated and puts his hands on a referee.
“That was a complete accident from Jahrome Hughes. I hope they fight that, because he should never miss a week for it.
“And the fact he was charged is just absolute stupidity. It’s ridiculous.”
The NRL would not comment publicly on the charge, and Melbourne had until yesterday afternoon to decide whether to challenge the ban.
The Storm have been without Hughes’s usual halves partner Cameron Munster for the first two rounds through injury, but he has a chance to return against the Knights.
Butler was the second official to become entangled in play over the weekend.
Canterbury were denied a try on Friday night against Cronulla when referee Ziggy PrzeklasaAdamski was deemed to have got in the way of the Sharks’ Braydon Trindall as he tried to stop Viliame Kikau close to the line.
There was contact between Trindall and PrzeklasaAdamski, but only in the process of the player attempting to make a tackle.