Daly Cherry-Evans has avoided a ban after his charge was downgraded at the NRL judiciary.
The veteran Manly captain was hit with a grade two dangerous throw, but successfully appealed at the panel on Tuesday night and will be free to play this week.
Cherry-Evans was initially banned for two matches along with his teammate Haumole Olakau’atu after both men were involved in a tackle with Eels forward Shaun Lane.
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The 35-year-old had never been suspended in his long career.
In giving evidence at the hearing, Cherry-Evans explained the tackle is not normally his first choice but one he’s used.
“I have got very comfortable with it and have never hurt anyone … this started to feel different. Usually I would fall to the ground in the tackle. I stayed standing, because the momentum in the tackle changes and doesn’t feel natural,” he said, citing his teammates’ lifting action.
”… With the size of the other two people in the tackle I don’t feel I could do anything. I admit that I played a role in the tackle but I feel the tackle got to a point where it was out of my control.”
NRL legal counsel Lachlan Giles SC argued that Cherry-Evans was a contributor to the dangerous position Lane was put in.
”My submission is that the most substantial contribution to the grading was the placing of the player in an elevated position,” he said.
“Even if player Olakau’atu hadn’t entered the tackle he was already in a dangerous position.”
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Cherry-Evans’ representative Nick Ghabar said there was nothing the halfback could do to stop the tackle due to the more powerful Olakau’atu’s actions.
“The two players had very different roles in the outcome and therefore the players can not be held to the same grading,” he said.
“We accept that he initially contributed to getting player Lane in the position where he could be lifted and that is why he has pleaded guilty. Olakau’atu lifted, Olakau’atu drove and he was the dominant contributor to this tackle.”
Ghabar also used a comparison from an incident in 2022 when Jackson Hastings and Joe Ofahengaue were charged for a similar tackle on Knights fullback Tex Hoy.
The prop was charged with a grade one offence, while Hastings was found guilty of a grade two charge.
The downgrading of the charge for Cherry-Evans means he’ll lead Manly out against the Raiders and has been fined $750.
