Young St George Illawarra forward Ryan Couchman said he was happy to accept a four-match ban for a hip-drop tackle that ended the season of Parramatta rival J’maine Hopgood.
Couchman, 22, risked being sidelined for up to six weeks after being referred straight to the NRL judiciary on Tuesday night.
But the fact the youngster had shown remorse after full-time, and pleaded guilty to the tackle, ensured the ban was kept at the lower end of the scale.
“Firstly I want to apologise to J’maine and wish him all the best for his recovery,” Couchman said after the hearing. “I know what it’s like, so I’m behind him.
“I’m disappointed I won’t be able to be out there with my teammates for four weeks, but I’ll do everything I can to help them prepare the next few matches.
“It can be a tough process [recovering from a ruptured ACL], but I’m sure he [Hopgood] will have great support behind him, and I extend my support to him. I made a mistake – I’ll cop the four weeks.”
Couchman told the panel of Bob Lindner and Greg McCallum he had approached his former teammate and now Eels forward Jack de Belin after full-time on Sunday evening at CommBank Stadium to check on Hopgood.
“Jack told me it was a suspected ACL,” Couchman said. “I was only three games back from an ACL, so I went straight over to him to apologise and tell him it was an accident. He accepted it [the apology].”
Couchman said he had lost balance and tried to land most of his weight on the ground rather than Hopgood’s legs.
Defence lawyer Nick Ghabar presented three character references, including one from former Dragons and Canterbury legend Mick Potter, who described the forward as “a person of the highest integrity”, and whose offence was “out of character”.
NRL lawyer Lachlan Gyles proposed four weeks based on the penalty given to Manly’s Toff Sipley last year, with a week shaved off because of the guilty plea.
Gyles said Couchman had shown remorse, but there still needed to be a deterrent sent to the rest of the competition, and the risk of injury to Hopgood was “at the highest level”.
It was also important, Gyles said, that “the best players are playing the game”, which was no longer the case for Hopgood and Parramatta.
Ghabar said Sipley’s tackle was worse because “he approached at speed and in an aggressive manner”.
Ghabar added Couchman’s tackle was “clumsy, accidental and careless, but there was no conscious decision to ‘grip, swivel and drop’,” which are some of the key indicators of a hip-drop tackle.
The news of a four-week ban will come as little consolation for the Eels supporters given they will be without Queensland representative Hopgood.
The ban means Couchman returns for the Dragons’ Anzac Day clash against the Sydney Roosters.
Hopgood told this masthead after the game as he left the ground: “He [Couchman] came up to me after the game. I know he didn’t mean it, but they [the NRL] did make the tackle illegal for a reason. There are no hard feelings there. I just have to look forward now.”
Broncos forward Pat Carrigan received a four-match ban for a hip-drop tackle on Jackson Hastings, which left the then Wests Tigers’ playmaker with a broken ankle in 2022, while Josh McGuire, then playing with St George Illawarra, was rubbed out five weeks in 2021.
