Phoenix Crossland discussion

Spare a thought for Phoenix.

Absolutely gutted for him. He’s been one of our best all season - our engine, the tackling machine.

I thought he looked devastated yesterday. I don’t think he even realised it was a “hip drop” until the replays come up and show him on the leg. I don’t think there was any intent there at all.

It’s a hard pil to swallow to injure somebody like that. Albeit an accident. He plays tough. He plays physical - but he plays fair. He is a nice guy. I think it’s equally hard to hear the congratulations going to him for “winning us the game” (not on here, there’s some other club supporters saying he won us the game) when he had zero intent.

The media around this will be that his tackle caused the injury. So hope the boys can get around him this week. There’s nobody that deserves a GF ring more than Crossland this season.

I think we need to challenge this - I don’t think he gets off - I think the NRL need to save face that the send off was warranted. But I think we need to support him, need to highlight the inconsistencies in approach.

If I’m his lawyer, I’m getting Radley’s Hip drop on repeat. I’m even saying he has served a match suspension already with the send off, that was unprecedented. Hip drops have caused injuries before - no sin bin, no suspension and no send off.

Also, I don’t think anybody suspected it was a hip drop until the replays were shown.
I think Sutton’s use of emotive descriptors was a bit ordinary as well as he described the tackle.

Anyway. Unlucky Phoenix. Thinking of you.
 
Crossland makes heaps of last ditch tackles every game, with no intent to hurt the player. It's a split second decision to stop a try being scored, no malice intended.
 
There is absolutely no way he doesn't get a decent stint unless, the rub out the ref and the bunker saying they overreacted by the sendoff.
 
I can’t help feeling Phoenix Crossland is going to become the scapegoat. Nobody wants to see an injury like that, but the outcome shouldn’t determine whether a tackle was illegal. Yes I may have red n blue glasses subconsciously on but I’ve watched it repeatedly and I see no malice. We’ve seen similar tackles, including other ones also resulting in broken legs without a send-off or even a penalty.

The real question is whether it actually meets the definition of a hip drop. If Newcastle fights the charge, you’d expect them to have the best possible judiciary representation breaking that tackle down frame by frame rather than allowing the injury itself to define it. Unfortunately I think the NRL will be solely looking at the injury.

Cleary also entered the game with a fractured foot. There are legitimate questions around the risk of playing with that injury, how it was medically managed and whether any treatment affected sensation, movement or foot placement. At the very least he would have had to have had nerve blocks done on the foot to play.

I just hope Phoenix is judged on what he actually did and whether it genuinely constitutes a hip drop rather than the emotion surrounding what happened to Nathan Cleary. Not holding my breathe though.

I really also hope that if he does cop a suspension, the Knights argue for it to be served later to allow Crossland to play. Panthers set that precedent.
 
HarVeeGee13 said:
The only chance he'd have is if Ivan/Nathan testified in support of him tbh.
Click to expand...
Knights lawyers should bring this up.
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