Jackson Hastings caught in fresh furore as frosty post-match moment emerges
The Newcastle Knights playmaker has been captured in another odd exchange after full-time.
Jackson Hastings has been captured in another contentious post-match moment after the Knights' loss to the Dolphins on Friday night. One week after he was involved in a nasty altercation with former teammate Tommy Talau, Hastings was at the centre of more odd scenes at McDonald Jones Stadium.
Fox Sports cameras captured Hastings looking very unimpressed as he shook hands with the Dolphins players, and he offered very little warmth to Sean O’Sullivan. The Dolphins halfback looked very taken aback when Hastings didn't even look him in the eye, saying "Jacko" but failing to get a response.
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Hastings also didn't offer much to Tim Gilbert and looked as if he wanted to get the post-match pleasantries out of the way as soon as possible. The Knights playmaker wasn't happy that he was forced to go off the field for an HIA in the 68th minute.
But O'Sullivan's stunned reaction said it all about Hastings' demeanour after full-time. Hastings and O'Sullivan both played in the junior ranks for the Roosters, with O'Sullivan arriving at the club in 2017 when Hastings departed to join Manly.
"It's frustrating when you are 100 per cent fine like I was," Hastings said about the HIA, which saw him miss the remainder of the match. "There was nothing. Not even a percentage in me was concussed.
"It makes it hard, but it is what it is. They are looking after the players and you just have to go off. I have nothing bad to say, it's just one of those things where I would like to be on the field at the end of the game and try and win it."
Jackson Hastings at centre of fresh post-match drama
The latest incident involving Hastings comes one week after he was shirt-fronted by Talau when he seemingly attempted to apologise for a high tackle that left his former Wests Tigers teammate concussed. Talau reacted angrily to Hastings approaching him after full-time, with David Klemmer also expressing his displeasure towards Hastings.
"I don't know the bloke," Klemmer later said. "It's just one of those things, I was looking out for my mate and my mate didn't want to go out there and talk. So I just intervened and cut it out. It was nothing that bad.
"The security guard stepped in. I just went over. It was pretty harmless. It might have looked a different way, but there was nothing in it."
NRL 360 co-host Paul Kent said Talau was "way out of order", while Phil Rothfield described Klemmer's actions as "appalling". “What happens on the field, stays on the field, but for Klemmer, who only ran 81 metres during the game, he ran further to get involved in that than he did the whole game," Rothfield said. "He was so out of order getting involved.”
Meanwhile, Hastings has declared the Knights can still win without Kalyn Ponga after going down 36-20 against the Dolphins without their captain. The Knights appeared to lose their way when Hastings was forced from the field in the dying stages.
"My role doesn't really change ... I'm the most dominant half regardless. If anything, Tyson (Gamble) is more dominant than KP," Hastings said.
"Obviously, we would like to have him, but Tyson is doing some really good things. Our combination is working, we play pretty similar. It was the first game that we have got Bradman (Best) some clean early ball. He'll only get better with that."
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