Cameron Smith criticises Kenny Bromwich as 'stupid' act stuns NRL world
The NRL legend was left scratching his head after the brutal scenes.
NRL legend Cameron Smith has slammed Kenny Bromwich's ugly head-high tackle on Taane Milne during the Rabbitohs' win over the Dolphins on Thursday night. The Rabbitohs came out of the second-half firing to overcome a 14-6 deficit and batter the NRL newcomers 36-14 in a brutal turnaround.
However the physical encounter wasn't without it's drama with Campbell Graham's try early in the second half to get the Rabbitohs back to 14-12 causing uproar. After Graham's incident, Bromwich was sent to the sin-bin after an ugly hit on the Rabbitohs winger and the result could have been worse.
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The forward charged towards Milne as the winger positioned himself to catch a high-ball. Before Milne had a chance to gather the kick, Bromwich collected Milne with a high-shot.
Replays showed Bromwich never looked at the ball and was only targeting it on Milne in the reckless hit. Bromwich was sent to the sin-bin for 10 minutes, despite many feeling the Dolphins forward should have been sent off for the hopeless challenge.
And NRL great Smith blasted the silly act, which saw the Rabbitohs run in a number of tries against 12 men with the score 20-14 at the time of the sin-bin.
"I've played a lot of games with Kenny Bromwich and I've never seen him come up with a play like that before," Smith said on Channel Nine after the game. "He's got that timing all wrong."
Bromwich's brother, Dolphins captain Jesse, was also perplexed at his brain-fade during the game. "He's not normally one to do stupid plays like that, but it was pretty tough on us at that time of the game," he told Nine.
"I might have to have a quiet word to him, he doesn't take them too well though." Unfortunately, Bromwich was also hurt in the clash after the head clash.
And after the match the NRL world were divided over the incident. Many in the NRL world thought he should have remained off the field for the shot on a defenceless opponent. Bromwich was put on report and will now face a wait to see if he is charged and misses any NRL footy over the coming weeks.
Campbell Graham try sparks fierce NRL debate
The other drama in the game involved Rabbitohs centre Graham when he appeared to push Euan Aitken in the back before snatching a kick out of the air and crashing over for the try. Graham and Aitken were both moving in the direction of the ball and had eyes on the footy, and the incident appeared to be a simple collision with no-one at fault.
The Bunker ruled it that way and the try stood, but many believed they saw Graham extend his arm and push Aitken. In commentary for Channel 9, Darren Lockyer said: “I think this is a penalty. They should be looking at that because he was taken out, Aitken.
“I’m surprised by that, because he had no chance to compete and protect (Kodi) Nikorima. He gets pushed out of the way. I’m surprised by that.”
Fellow Channel 9 commentator Mathew Thompson tweeted: “Well, I am baffled. Dismayed even. How is this a try when an ‘escort’ can be penalised for merely glancing a kick chaser? Utterly bizarre. Shocker.”
Brad Fittler added: "That's a penalty to the Dolphins. No try. But you know what? It's a lesson to Euan Aitken, he was doing this all night... he was forever trying to get him off his line. Go for the ball."
Regardless, the Rabbitohs produced a scintillating second-half to momentarily move to third on the ladder and put their rivals on notice.
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