Jarome Luai weighs in as Kyle Flanagan learns fate over Stephen Crichton biting incident

Jarome Luai has slapped down suggestions his former teammate Stephen Crichton was in any way to blame for being bitten by Kyle Flanagan in the Bulldogs' win over the Dragons. On Tuesday night, Flanagan fronted the NRL judiciary, pleading not guilty to biting Crichton on the nose midway through the second half of Canterbury's 28-10 win on Saturday night, despite video showing that he took a nip as the pair wrestled on the ground.

Flanagan claimed he was the initial victim in the tackle, feeling pressured by Bulldogs defenders and poked in the eye by Crichton's nose. "Crichton moved his head forward to suffocate my face with a smothering feeling," Flanagan told the panel on Tuesday night. "I felt trapped and locked in. I felt like I had nowhere else to go and then I used a crocodile technique to roll over and play the ball for my team."

Flanagan also claimed his eyes were closed at the time of the incident, and he had an involuntary partial closing of his mouth. "I partially closed my jaw. I did not bite Stephen Crichton," Flanagan said. "I didn't cause those injuries (Crichton's bloody nose)".

Crichton didn’t respond angrily to the tackle at the time or make an on-field complaint, although he was seen wiping what appeared to be blood from his nose as he returned to the defensive line. It was only after the match he opted to make a formal complaint but he didn't give evidence on Tuesday. In a similar instance to that of when last year Tyson Gamble didn't give evidence when he accused Jack Wighton of a bite during their finals clash in Newcastle, Crichton wasn't required to attend Tuesday's hearing. And in Tuesday's hearing, Flanagan was found guilty of biting the Bulldogs centre and was handed a four-match ban, ruling him out for the remainder of the home and away season.

Jarome Luai says Stephen Crichton isn't one to complain

While many NRL fans and pundits such as Paul Gallen pinned a large part of the blame on Crichton for the incident, Luai leapt to the defence of his former teammate saying he isn't one to file a complaint if it wasn't serious. “We’re just big on what happens on the field, stays on the field. If he’s complaining about it then you know something’s wrong,” Luai said of his former Penrith teammate on Tuesday.

“I think he needs a few stitches up there, but you can’t really see it which he’s probably cheering about because he’s one of the model figures in the game. With the amount of blood and looking on after the game with what was going on, it looked pretty sore, so we’ll see what happens.

“You don’t want people biting you. That’s baby stuff,” Luai said. "We don’t have any room for that in our game."

As for the argument that the Bulldogs skipper was at fault for being up so tight to his face, Luai slapped that claim down stating most tackles are like that, with players taught to get in tight to slow down the ruck. “I think that happens on a regular basis (players' faces being tight together).” Luai continued. “That happens in every second tackle because you want to be tight, so I’m sure that happens in many other instances but they’re not biting other players.”

The judiciary panel of Henry Perenara and Greg McCallum also found Crichton wasn't in any way to blame for the injuries he sustained on Tuesday night, finding the bite was intentional as Flanagan's mouth was fully closed around Crichton's nose at one point. While NRL counsel Lachlan Gyles claimed Flanagan was entirely responsible for putting Crichton's nose inside his mouth.

"At a point in time when Crichton's head was moving upward, his nose is held back and compressed in your mouth and is then released," Gyles said to Flanagan. "Crichton is putting pressure on your face and acting aggressive to you, in a way you didn't like.

RELATED:

• Latrell Mitchell photographer called out as ex-teammate demands action

• Broncos rocked as brutal news about Reece Walsh comes to light

• Wayne Bennett backflips on promise as Dolphins player joins Souths

"The reason his nose came into your mouth was because you moved your head to the left. It was your move that put his nose in your mouth. You clenched your jaw, so what was between the bottom teeth and mouthguard was Stephen Crichton's nose."

The ban means the Dragons will need to find another five-eighth for the remainder of the regular season to help steer them into finals footy, Ranked ninth on the NRL ladder, the Dragons have only one more game against a team ranked above them this season. Flanagan will be able to return for the first week of the finals, if the Dragons qualify.

with agencies