The NRL have elected to add a charge for Canterbury Bulldogs centre Stephen Crichton after the match review committee (MRC) overlooked a tackle from him on Friday evening.
The tackle, made against Ryan Papenhuyzen, saw Crichton seemingly make deliberate contact to the face of the Melbourne fullback.
An apparent head slam followed, with Crichton not sanctioned on-field by the referee or penalised by the MRC.
Despite the initial ruling by the MRC, Crichton was later charged with a Grade 1 contrary conduct offence. The MRC’s ruling on Monday is the first of its kind, with Crichton now facing a $1000 fine with an early guilty plea, or $1500 if he fights and loses at the judiciary.
The offence and tackle has received widespread criticism, and it seemingly led to the NRL, ARLC and MRC revising their charge sheet.
It was flagged earlier this year that the ARLC were introducing powers to add charges after the fact if they felt the MRC had missed one in their wrap of games each morning.
That came after the MRC seemingly missed a charge against one of Crichton’s Bulldogs teammates, Reed Mahoney, earlier this year.
Conflicting reports suggest the ARLC powers were not, however, what triggered the charge.
Crichton has until midday (AEST) on Tuesday to determine his plea to the charge, with any potential hearing to be heard on Tuesday evening.
Wests Tigers prop Tony Sukkar and North Queensland Cowboys hooker Reece Robson were also pinged for careless high tackles on Sunday and will face either $1000 or $1500 in fines.
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