NRL Issues of Contention Round 9

You know something serious has happened when I do an article on the round before it is even Saturday night.  But when you know what happened in the Cowboys vs Dragons game, it is no surprise.

When Matt prior decided to take out Jonathon Thurston, there was no doubt he had to be sent off and it was only luck that Thurston did not end up with a major injury.  The fallout from this is not over, but it is certainly going to be interesting to see how it all unfolds.  On first glance, there was no doubt it was a deliberate cheap shot. I have since reviewed the contact and what Matt Prior has said and his case is looking worse.

To start with look at what Matt Prior has said and then look at the footage and my thoughts.

"It wasn't a brain explosion, I was just going for a shoulder charge and slipped up and got him high which I'm regretting now and honestly didn't mean to do that.  I'm really sorry for it and I hope he's OK."

Match Highlights - 56 secs onwards

Now to pick his statement to pieces in the same way he tried to smash Thurston's jaw to pieces.

When he states "it wasn't a brain explosion", does that mean it was a calculated hit. If so then he has a serious case to answer for. 

When he tries to explain it as a shoulder charge that went wrong and he "slipped up", at what school of tackling was he taught a shoulder charge?  Who has ever seen a shoulder charge where a player leads with an elbow. His eyes and aim of contact was always for the head. At no point was his body positioned for a shoulder charge. The first point of contact was the head and watch his other arm and you will also notice it tries to make contact with the head.  If it slipped up as he says, what did it slip off?  

"I didn't mean to do that"

Who does he think he is kidding? If he is saying he only meant to do a shoulder charge then he needs to work on his skills. His position was lined up that if he was going for a shoulder charge, he would have made straight contact to the head. Look at the photo and his shoulder is higher than the elbow, indicating his intention was always high contact. Putting all this together it is laughable that he thinks people will believe it was just a shoulder charge gone wrong.  The only thing Prior can be thankful for is that he did not cause a serious injury. 

This will be the case where we will find out how serious the Match Review Committee is. If all is right in Sydney a layoff of 10-12 weeks is a minimum for such acts.