No arguments over Fuimaono send off; questions remain over 'hip drop' penalty on McGuire

Brendan Bradford

No arguments over Fuimaono send off; questions remain over 'hip drop' penalty on McGuire image

Anthony Griffin didn't argue with Tyrell Fuimaono being sent off, but said he'll seek clarification from the NRL over the decision to place Josh McGuire on report for a "hip drop" on Melbourne Storm winger Josh Addo-Carr. 

Fuimaono was sent off in the 12th minute in Sunday's loss to the Storm after hitting Ryan Papenhuyzen high and late in the lead-up to Melbourne's first try of the game.

With McGuire already in the sin bin for an eighth minute high shot on Justin Olam, Fuimaono's sending off left the Dragons with only 11 players on the field. 

Down 14-10 at the break, the Dragons were in it, but were blown off the park in the second 40 as Melbourne ran out 44-18 winners. 

Speaking after the match, Griffin didn't make any arguments about Fuimaono being sent off, and said he'd addressed NRL's crackdown on high shots before the match. 

"I didn't assume it was going to be a send off, but it didn't surprise me when it was," Griffin said. 

"It is what it is. 

"We spoke and talked about what had happened. We weren't unaware, but it is what it is. They're the rules at the moment."

Griffin said he was confused about McGuire being placed on report for a second time for a 29th minute hip drop on Addo-Carr. 

The Melbourne winger was forced off the pitch for seven minutes, but later returned to score his second and third tries of the afternoon. 

"The McGuire one on Addo-Carr, I don't understand that one," Griffin said.  

"We don't coach him to do that, and he doesn't know what a hip-drop is. 

"You've gotta be able to tackle someone and sometimes their legs are going to get tangled up. I want to get some clarification around that one. 

Griffin didn't make any arguments about McGuire's earlier sin-binning for a high shot on Olam. 

"He got wrong footed. Today, that's a sin bin. A week ago it wasn't. Maybe in three weeks time it won't be either," he said.  

"But today it was, and as long as they're consistent. 

"We've gotta get through an Origin series, and if they're happy with having 11 people on the field in Origin, they'll be happy with it." 

The Dragons were in the match at halftime, with fullback Matt Dufty playing an important role before going off with a shoulder injury in the 43rd minute. 

Quickfire tries to Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Jahrome Hughes, Josh Addo-Carr and Justin Olam sealed the win for Melbourne in Dufty's absence. 

"It looks like he's got a decent AC rupture there. It's not real good," Griffin said of Dufty's injury.

"Some of our play in the first half was really good, but we went down to 12 and it was going to be hard - that's not an excuse. 

"We were unlucky not to be in front at half time. It's disappointing it got away from us.

"I was proud of them all night. The second half got away from them, but we had to swap a lot of people around, we had our own injury problems. 

"The second half got away from us and we paid the penalty for a slow start in the second half. I thought if we could hang in there and get the first try, we were a good chance of scrambling away."

 

Brendan Bradford