The Rabbitohs had long had the game wrapped up but that didn’t stop tensions from boiling over late in their 36-18 preliminary final win over the Sea Eagles in Brisbane.
Manly front-rower Josh Aloiai spear-tackled South Sydney prop Mark Nicholls in the 68th minute and an all-in scuffle ignited.
By the end of the tense scenes, from which Nicholls emerged injury-free, Aloai had been marched to the sin bin and referee Ashley Klein had warned both captains against players running in from afar.
Klein singled out Manly second-rower Haumole Olakau’atu and South Sydney hooker Damien Cook for their roles in the melee, before handing out his punishment to Aloiai.
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“The tackle by you is extremely dangerous,” Klein was heard telling Aloiai on Nine’s coverage.
“You’re going to go to the bin and it’s on report.”
Rugby league great Paul Vautin added: “That was an ordinary tackle. That was an old-fashioned, 80s-type tackle, that one.”
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Luckily for South Sydney’s camp, no Rabbitohs player threw a punch in the encounter, which would have potentially ruled them out of the grand final.
But rugby league icon Brad Fittler nonetheless hit Cook with a light-hearted spray for his part in the scuffle.
“Damien Cook, what were you thinking?” Fittler said on Nine’s post-match show.
“Mate, all you’re going to do is get yourself in trouble. You don’t jeopardise anything, you walk away. You know they’re not going to do anything to Mark Nicholls; he’s on the ground.”
The winner of Saturday’s preliminary final clash between Melbourne and Penrith will meet South Sydney in the decider next Sunday.
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