Reluctant Titans won't fight White ban - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Reluctant Titans won't fight White ban

29/04/2009 04:30:48 PM Comments (0)

Disappointed by past NRL judiciary trips, Gold Coast coach John Cartwright says the club decided not to fight the grading of prop Matt White's dangerous conduct charge despite having a "good case".

White has copped a three-match ban after being slapped with a grade three dangerous conduct charge for a crusher tackle on Penrith's Lachlan Coote last Monday night.

Cartwright said they reluctantly decided to enter an early guilty plea to avoid a four-match ban if unsuccessful at a hearing.

"It's a tough one to fight. You don't see too many guys go down there and be successful," Cartwright said on Wednesday.

"We had a good case to go for a downgrading.

"But the flipside of that was four weeks (suspension) and a bye at the end of that.

"So he wouldn't have played football for six weeks."

Cartwright said experience had taught him that fighting the grading wasn't worth it.

"It is always a risk to go down and fight it and it just wasn't worth it this time - so we will cop the three reluctantly," he said.

"I just think the grading was very high. It is very tough to go down there and beat a grading charge.

"I have been there before with what was probably a stronger case and we missed out so we will take it on the chin."

Cartwright was still unhappy over the media's treatment of White's tackle.

"Every time I picked up a paper or looked at the TV that's what I see," he said.

"If you look at anything slow it is not a true indication of what happened - you can freeze a frame and it looks bad."

Meanwhile, Cronulla skipper Paul Gallen and in-form Bulldog Michael Ennis will both front the NRL judiciary on Wednesday night after pleading not guilty to charges from weekend matches.

Gallen is contesting a high tackle charge and Ennis a dangerous conduct charge for an alleged chicken wing tackle and both will only face one-match bans if found guilty.

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