Crossland to miss NRL grand final after four-game ban for Cleary tackle
Newcastle hooker Phoenix Crossland will miss the NRL grand final after the judiciary handed him a four-game suspension for the tackle that left Penrith star
Newcastle hooker Phoenix Crossland will miss the NRL grand final after the judiciary handed him a four-game suspension for the tackle that left Penrith star Nathan Cleary with a broken leg. The ban lands hardest now: on the biggest day of the season, and with Crossland’s year set to end on the sideline.
Crossland pleaded guilty to dangerous contact on Tuesday before the judiciary decided his punishment. He was sent off for a hip-drop tackle on Cleary in the 36th minute of the match, a challenge that ended with the Penrith halfback suffering a compound fracture.
Knights lose a key man
The suspension also rules Crossland out of New Zealand’s three World Cup pool games. For Newcastle, though, the immediate blow is the grand final. Barring something extraordinary, the Knights will have to face the season’s defining match without their first-choice hooker.
That leaves the club searching for a replacement at short notice. It is a heavy hit. Crossland has been central to Newcastle’s run, and his absence changes the shape of the side heading into the final.
A tackle that changed the night
The incident itself came deep in the first half, when contact around Cleary’s legs brought a red card and, later, a judiciary case that carried serious consequences. The tackle has also reignited the long-running debate around hip-drop contacts in rugby league, with opinions split on intent, technique and how the code should police them.
Former NRL international Paul Gallen argued the move has been part of the game for years and said the challenge Crossland made was not even the worst he saw that weekend. But the judiciary took a different view. Four games. No grand final.
Newcastle now move on without him, while the final week of the season turns to the next selection call. The pressure shifts quickly. Very quickly.
All eyes now turn to who fills the No. 9 role when the Knights run out this Sunday, and whether Newcastle can regroup in time for the club’s first men’s grand final in 25 years.
