St George Illawarra captain Ben Hunt says Tyrell Fuimaono was left “shattered” in the changerooms following his controversial hip-drop tackle on Haze Dunster, which rubbed the Eels youngster out for the season.
Fuimaono is facing five weeks on the sideline with an early guilty plea after the match review committee came down hard on his hip-drop tackle.
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The Eels confirmed Dunster would miss the entire 2022 season after rupturing his anterior, medial and posterior ligaments.
In the aftermath of the incident, it’s been revealed Dunster and Fuimaono are close off the field, with the Eel in a relationship with Fuimaono’s younger sister, who plays with St George Illawarra in the NRLW.
“I went into the shed after the game and he (Fuimaono) was pretty upset,” he told 2GB’s Wide World of Sports radio.
“He was really disappointed with himself.
“Hurting someone that’s close to his family, he’s pretty shattered by it.
“He definitely didn’t mean to do it on purpose, he’s really close with Haze.
“It’s a shame, the whole situation.”
Asked how a player gets a hip-drop tackle out of their game, Hunt said it was “a difficult one” to solve.
“You’re out there and everything’s going really fast, you’re trying to make a tackle and get a bloke down as quick as you can,” Hunt said.
“You’re not trying to hurt someone; you’re just trying to get him down.
“It did look bad the way he went down on him, but I know Tyrell was just trying to get the man on the ground.
“It’s a tough one. They seem to be different all the time and the way they’re getting judged.
“I don’t know how they can rule on it any different.”
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