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Former State of Origin and Test players labelled the charge as “absolutely insane”, but Graham Annesley has launched a passionate defence of Will Kennedy’s ban for running into a referee, insisting: “accidents are not OK”.
The Sharks wasted no time on Monday lodging an early guilty plea for Kennedy, meaning he will miss Cronulla’s crucial showdown with the Cowboys after the bye.
The NRL match review committee issued the Sharks fullback with a grade two contrary conduct charge, the fifth time a player has been sanctioned for making contact with a match official this year.
Kennedy was sprinting to support teammate Kayal Iro after he had made a break in Cronulla’s record win over the Tigers on Friday night but accidentally clattered into referee Adam Gee from behind.
Kennedy’s former teammate Paul Gallen described the match review committee charge as “absolutely insane” on Nine Radio over the weekend (Nine is the owner of this masthead), and Cronulla premiership winner Wade Graham called the sanction “outrageous” on Triple M.
Kennedy would have missed two matches if he unsuccessfully fought the charge at the judiciary, but will now return for the round 22 match against the Rabbitohs.