Marshall criticises sin-binning as Tigers winger banned

By Jasper Bruce and Melissa Woods

Wests Tigers coach Benji Marshall slammed the decision to sin-bin Luke Laulilii in the defeat of Parramatta but will now need to do without the winger for next week’s clash with Newcastle.

The match review committee charged Laulilii with grade-two dangerous contact for tackling Bailey Simonsson in the air in the second half of the Tigers’ 22-20 golden-point win on Easter Monday.

He will also miss a subsequent match against Brisbane if he unsuccessfully fights the charge at the judiciary.

Simonsson left the field in a medicab and was later taken to hospital, suspected to have dislocated his ankle after falling awkwardly from contact with Laulilii.

The winger is expected to miss the remainder of the season.

Mid-air tackles are illegal but they rarely result in sin-binnings and Marshall was scathing of Peter Gough’s decision to sideline Laulilii for 10 minutes over the shot.

“Didn’t agree. Simple as that,” Marshall said.

“If he didn’t get injured, would it have been the same result? I didn’t agree, but whatever, we just had to deal with it.”

Marshall was non-committal after full-time when asked whether the Tigers would consider fighting Laulilii’s charge at the match review committee.

“I’ll have to look at it. It’s hard, it’s in the heat of the moment,” he said.

“I’m only speaking from what I could see from the sidelines, which is pretty far away. I actually just didn’t agree with it. I could be wrong. That’s just my thoughts.”

Jeral Skelton appears the likeliest man to come onto a wing for the Tigers, having been named on the bench for the past two games.

Sean Russell can also accept a $750 fine over the incident that left him concussed and unable to finish the game.

The Eels centre went on report for rushing out of the line to hit Heamasi Makasini in the first half but came off second best.

Elsewhere, centre Adam Pompey will miss the Warriors’ clash with Melbourne after being charged with dangerous contact while Raiders forward Hudson Young has escaped a ban for a hair-pull.

Pompey was slugged with a one-game suspension for his contact with Cronulla back-rower Briton Nikora, allegedly lifting his knee in attack late in their Sunday NRL clash, won by the Sharks.

If he fights the grade two charge and is found guilty at the judiciary he will spend two matches on the sidelines, missing the Warriors’ Friday night meeting with the Storm in Melbourne and a home clash with Gold Coast.