Jack Wighton, the rugby league star’s unsuccessful attempt to challenge his four match ban. Sadly, he was not successful with his appeal to the NRL judiciary. The reason for the suspension was a grade-two shoulder charge in last week’s clash against Cronulla. Wighton played a key role in the incident that left prop Toby Rudolf hospitalised with a broken jaw. The full hearing run time was 75 minutes. Throughout this period Wighton took the unprecedented step of contesting the charges and did not give evidence to the panel.
On Saturday, Wighton crashed into Rudolf in a scary scene. This type of head clash knocked the Cronulla player out of the game. At the time of the hearing, Wighton’s attorney, Nick Ghabar, was able to submit a medical report from Cronulla. The report substantiated that Rudolf had sustained a concussion due to head contact. Moose Wighton’s major request to reduce the charge to a level-one offense went down in defeat. Because of that, the initial suspension has been cut down to two games.
Judiciary chairman Geoff Bellew helpfully reminded everyone on the panel that Wighton had no burden to show his innocence. Rather, he based his decision off his attorney’s evidence and a report from a meeting referee. In her report, referee Belinda Sharpe noted Wighton’s defence. Thus, he explained it was impossible to get his arm out to tuck around Rudolf in the open field tackle.
Patrick Knowles, speaking for the NRL, countered that there was a component of the contact that was head-on-head. He described the incident as a “textbook example” of a shoulder charge. He reinforced that usual contact would have stopped head contact between the two players.
Wighton expressed disappointment after the ruling, stating, “We had a fair hearing and thought we had a good case.” He questioned the validity of the evidence presented against him, asking, “How many games of rugby league have you played?”
Knowles raised questions about Ghabar’s focus on the medical report, stating, “Why is Mr Ghabar giving evidence of that?” He made it very clear that, while head-on-head contact was involved, it was not the only, nor the main, forceful contact made on the tackle.
