Trial by media? Stephen Crichton fined after newspaper report

Canterbury captain Stephen Crichton has been charged with contrary conduct after the match review committee was asked to take a second look at an incident in Friday night’s match against Melbourne.

Crichton was initially issued a concerning act notice for rubbing the face of Ryan Papenhuyzen, but his name was added to the charge sheet on Monday.

On Monday, the same day a News Corp column questioned the lack of action taken against Crichton, the match review committee was told to re-examine the incident.

The NRL refused to confirm if it was the ARL Commission or NRL CEO Andrew Abdo himself who had taken the matter up with the MRC.

Even though the NRL and ARLC have had the power since 2022 to question any on-field matter, this is the first time they have actually picked up the phone.

Some officials in clubland were curious to know why the game’s powerbrokers bothered to get involved with a matter that only involved a fine. Crichton can escape with a $1000 fine with an early plea.

Bulldogs officials are entitled to ask whether the ARLC only became involved after reading the comment piece in the Daily Telegraph.

It emerged in June the ARLC proposed to have the power to take matters that were missed by the match review committee directly to the judiciary, which Abdo described at the time as an “insurance policy”. It is separate to what has happened with the Crichton matter.

Bulldogs officials declined to comment.

RLPA boss Clint Newton said on Monday: “I have serious questions around how this was referred, and who identified the issue. Has the complaint come from a club or someone else?

“We’ll continue to be advocates for fair play, and if players have fallen foul of the rules, we have a judicial system in place – but what you don’t want to see is if this [requests for a second review] becomes a consistent theme, and trust in the system completely breaks.”

Newton added it was important the match review committee was never swayed by “perceived by external influences”.

Sources with knowledge of the situation not authorised to speak publicly confirmed the NRL wanted the Crichton tackle reviewed because they felt it warranted a charge. The NRL reviews all matters on a Monday.

The same sources confirmed the fresh charge had nothing to do with an opinion piece in the newspaper, and the request for them to review the incident did not have to be upheld by the MRC.

During Friday night’s game, Andrew Johns said in commentary when the tackle was replayed: “His hand is raking across his face. There was no gouging, so I don’t think he’s got a problem, but it didn’t look good.”

Crichton, who spent Sunday at Leichhardt Oval watching good friend and Wests Tigers co-captain Jarome Luai play his 150th NRL game, will be free to play against the Panthers on Thursday.

Papenhuyzen will also feature for the Storm on Friday against the Roosters in what will double as coach Craig Bellamy’s 600th game as a head coach.

“He’s just had such an enormous impact on so many people. Melbourne Storm, we’re 27 years young, and pretty much for our entire history Craig’s been our coach,” Storm CEO Justin Rodski said.

“The broader sporting landscape here in Melbourne, helping the club to become a club that people know about, that people are passionate about, it’s been really significant.

“I’d like to see the next statue here at Melbourne Park for Craig Bellamy because I think his impact on this city, on this team and on this club has just been so enormous.”