Tim Sheens slams Newcastle for dobbing Tigers star Isaiah Papali’i in to the match review committee

Tim Sheens slams Newcastle for dobbing Tigers star Isaiah Papali’i in to the match review committee: ‘I’m not into that sort of garbage’

  • Isaiah Papali’i copped a one-game ban for a tackle on Jack Johns
  • The Tigers star was initially left off the charge sheet by the NRL
  • But he was charged and banned after the Knights reached out to the NRL 

Tim Sheens has slammed Newcastle for reporting Tigers star Isaiah Papali’i to the NRL’s Match Review Committee.

The former Eels gun was left off the original charge sheet after the Knights won 14-12 at Leichhardt Oval last week.

Newcastle officials subsequently reached out to the NRL and Papali’i was eventually banned for one game after copping a grade-two dangerous contact charge for a hit on Knights utility Jack Johns.

Sheens was particularly unimpressed with the development, particularly given the Tigers will already be without star second-rower Tommy Talau for Sunday’s game against the Bulldogs. 

Talau sustained a broken nose after being collected by Knights halfback Jackson Hastings, with the two having to be separated by a steward after the former Tigers playmaker had looked to apologise after the game.

Tim Sheens has lashed out at Newcastle for reporting Isaiah Papali’i to the NRL

The Tigers star has copped a one-game ban for a tackle on Jack Johns in his last week's 14-12 loss to Newcastle, despite being initially left off the charge sheet

The Tigers star has copped a one-game ban for a tackle on Jack Johns in his last week’s 14-12 loss to Newcastle, despite being initially left off the charge sheet

‘If what you said is right and they’ve gone to the review committee over a particular tackle, I probably should’ve gone back and said: “Well the kid’s going in for surgery. He’s going to miss two weeks”,’ Sheens said on Saturday.

‘I’m not into that sort of garbage. But in saying that, I’ll protect my players.’

Under NRL rules, the league has until 6pm on Monday to re-examine the charges laid out from the weekend ahed of the Sunday games.

The NRL initially published its first charge sheet shortly after 10am on Monday, before issuing a second charge sheet containing Papali’i’s name less than three hours later.

Sheens, however, conceded Papali’i’s tackle deserved to be looked at by the Match Review Committee.

‘It’s a bit disappointing but at the end of the day the tackle had a little bit of a hip drop look about it,’ he said.

‘I didn’t think it was a grade two, but that was the grading. We have to live with that and move forward.’

Meanwhile, according to News Corp, Talau has since buried the hatchet with Hastings after contacting the Newcastle star on social media.

Talau was in no mood to accept Hastings apology on the field, but has since reached out to his former teammate to smooth things over.

Tempers flared between the Tigers and Knights after Jackson Hastings collected Tommy Talau with a brutal hit that left the Wests star with a broken nose

Tempers flared between the Tigers and Knights after Jackson Hastings collected Tommy Talau with a brutal hit that left the Wests star with a broken nose

‘It was a heat of the moment thing,’ Hastings said last week.

‘I went to apologise, I didn’t realise in the game I collected him high.

‘I just tried to do the right thing at the end of the game by going up to say sorry, in the heat of the battle he was still angry, which I fully appreciate.

‘No one wants to get hit in the head and they ruled him out for the game too, so I am remorseful; there was no intent. I can see why he would be frustrated.’

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