Stephen Crichton dodges NRL ban over Taylan May, Tiger Alex Seyfarth out for three games
Canterbury have breathed a sigh of relief as Stephen Crichton avoids sanction for a high tackle but Alex Seyfarth’s season could be over after the Wests Tigers forward received a monster ban.
It comes as top-four hopefuls Cronulla prepare to lose bench forward Jesse Colquhoun for at least one game following the hip-drop style tackle that injured Robert Derby.
Crichton went on report for a high tackle on Tigers centre Taylan May that concussed the centre and forced him from the field in his team’s shock 28-14 defeat of premiership hopefuls Canterbury.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.May had slipped into the contact in the wet conditions.
“He was kind of coming and tried to go as low as I could. He kind of slipped into it,” Crichton said at full-time.
“I kind of felt it straight away too. I kind of knew I was in trouble. That’s probably just on my tackle technique as well in this wet weather.”
Crichton was the Bulldogs’ best player in a beaten effort on Sunday and will now be on deck in the coming weeks as Canterbury fight to confirm a top-two finish.
Seyfarth will miss three games if he accepts the grade-two careless high tackle charge he received for a hit on Canterbury’s Harry Hayes in the second half Sunday’s game.
He would miss four matches by unsuccessfully pleading his case at the judiciary.
That would likely be enough to sideline Seyfarth for the remainder of the season, given the Tigers have a bye across the final five rounds and are highly unlikely to make the NRL finals.
Seyfarth went to the sin bin for his hit and is likely to be replaced by Tony Sukkar in the second row for the Tigers’ next game against Manly in round 24.
The Sharks will need to find a replacement for Colquhoun, who received a grade-two dangerous contact charge for his tackle on North Queensland winger Derby.
Derby left the field with an apparent knee injury after the shot in the second half of the Sharks’ 32-12 win at a sodden Shark Park on Sunday.
Colquhoun will miss next week’s clash against St George Illawarra with an early guilty plea and risks sitting out the following week against Gold Coast by challenging the charge.
Toby Rudolf appears the likeliest man to come in for Colquhoun, assuming he shakes off concussion symptoms from round 21.
