The game moves on, but the New Zealand Warriors continue to simmer about the injury to boom young prop Jacob Laban.
Speaking from Auckland Warriors head coach Andrew Webster did little to dispel the club’s annoyance at the two-match ban handed to Dolphins forward Felise Kaufusi for the dangerous tackle that fractured Laban’s leg and will see him miss up to six weeks.
“I don’t want get in hot water, but the process just didn’t seem consistent,” Webster told the media ahead of Saturday’s top four blockbuster in Sydney with the Bulldogs.
“They (NRL) always ask the club for medical outcomes about players before a decision has been made, but this decision was made before they received that information,” he revealed, implying the Match Review Committee acted prematurely in the eyes of the Warriors.
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A clearly frustrated Webster was then asked what the Warriors can do following the sentence handed down to Kaufusi.
“Our CEO can handle that,” he said before suggesting the answer isn’t a blanket crackdown from the NRL.
“I hate it when they say ‘we’re going to crack down on this and we’re going to go really hard’, they just need to be consistent—whatever the punishment is, it should fit the crime.”
“I don’t think you can (go hard with big suspensions to make an example of someone), that would be unfair on the first player you go after.”