St George Illawarra five-eighth Kyle Flanagan has been slapped with a four-match ban after a marathon NRL tribunal hearing on Tuesday night.
The NRL referred Flanagan directly to the judiciary after Canterbury captain Stephen Crichton claimed to have been bitten on the nose while attempting to tackle Flanagan during Saturday’s game.
Debate has raged over the incident with one seasoned journalist even suggesting Crichton was to blame (and should have been charged) for “sticking his nose into the mouth of an opponent”.
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During the explosive tribunal hearing that went for almost three hours, Flanagan was asked by his lawyer James McLeod if Crichton’s nose was in his mouth.
Flanagan admitted it was and was then asked if his mouth closed downwards on the nose.
Flanagan said his mouth “partially” closed on the nose but said he was “definitely unaware” he bit the nose and later said, “I definitely didn’t bite Stephen Crichton.”
McLeod also highlighted Flanagan’s clean record — he has never been suspended — and said it was “inherently unlikely” that someone with such a record would suddenly take to biting opponents.
“This is a serious allegation, a grave allegation, against someone who has a clean record,” McLeod said.
“Kyle is the only one who knows if this was intentional or not. Crichton comes at him at least twice, in our submission Crichton positions his nose so that it goes into his mouth.
“Crichton’s nose gets wedged in and he pulls it out. His head rotates. There is force generated there. We have minor grazing on the bridge of the nose and a mild cut underneath Crichton’s nose, between the two nostrils. That is consistent with what we say occurred.”
But after deliberating for 15 minutes, the tribunal decided that Crichton was not to blame.
They found Flanagan guilty and then both parties started debating on what they thought the length of the ban should be, with the panel eventually landing on four games in an unanimous decision.
The NRL’s legal counsel Lachlan Gyles SC suggested a 4-6 match ban was appropriate and referenced Rabbitohs star Jack Wighton’s biting incident last season in which he received a three-game suspension.
Gyles said that Flanagan was of good character and admitted chances of reoffending were low, but stressed that biting someone in the face was “very serious”.
Crichton did not give evidence and did not attend the hearing.
The judiciary chair Geoffrey Bellew SC said the word ‘bite’ was an “ordinary English word” and told his panel to give it an “ordinary English meaning”.
When making their verdict, Bellew said that the tribunal only needed to be satisfied that there was a bite and “it was intentional”.
The Dragons are in ninth spot on the ladder, on equal points with the Dolphins who are just inside the eight.
This Sunday they face the thirteenth-placed Titans, and then have games against the Sharks, the Eels and the Raiders.