Canberra full-back Jack Wighton is free to play in the NRL finals after the judiciary threw out a grade-two shoulder charge which stemmed from a hit during the Raiders’ win on Sunday.
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“It’s just one of those things we had to get through”.
“If all three of these indicators are clearly identified in an incident then a player will be charged with a shoulder charge”.
Wighton would have been rubbed out for three weeks had he accepted an early guilty plea, but chose to contest the charge at the judiciary on Tuesday night. I was always confident.
“Very relieved, it’s been a huge distraction for two days”, Stuart said after the three-man panel took just five minutes to return their not-guilty verdict.
Of the team’s preparation for Saturday’s qualifying final against the Sharks at GIO Stadium, Stuart added: “I wanted to do some stuff with the team [Tuesday] afternoon but we had to postpone it”. But we will get through it. “I always had faith”, Wighton said.
“He’s been pretty settled and confident for two days”. I’m happy for Jack because he’s put so much into the season himself.
“It’s (been) a challenge but it’s just another hurdle we’ll overcome”.
Instead he had little to answer for with Wighton and his legal counsel Nick Ghabar arguing there was “clear separation” between his arm and body.
League Central sent out photos on Monday of Ennis’s hit on Blake Green saying his left arm extended away from his body, meaning the shot technically wasn’t a shoulder charge.
“It was a classic shoulder charge that player Wighton was at least careless in the way he effected it”, McGrath said.
“There was forceful contact”.
The judiciary panel of Mal Cochrane, Roy Ayliffe and Sean Garlick took just five minutes to clear the Raiders No.1 of a shoulder charge tackle on Tigers forward Joel Edwards.
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A small group of Raiders fans were seen outside the building celebrating the decision after it was handed down.
