NSW officials and players were left fuming with how the Maroons outnumbered Matt Burton during a wild brawl in the second half of the decider as his teammates tried to defend a possible Daly Cherry-Evans try 30 metres away.
The NRL match review committee charged all three players, Burton, Dane Gagai and Tino Fa’asuamaleaui for their roles in the fight, but none will miss a game, instead fined percentages of their match fee under new guidelines.
READ MORE: Origin player ratings: Stunning ‘captain’s knock’ wasted
READ MORE: What hurt Joey most about latest NSW Origin loss
READ MORE: F1 star calls for bone-breaker to be abandoned
Burton and Gagai would have been facing three-match NRL bans (two with an early guilty plea) if they were hit with a grade-two striking charge in the NRL, but instead accepted $3450 fines each.
Burton’s former Panthers teammates Api Koroisau and Isaah Yeo rushed to help the 22-year-old once they were aware of the fight in back play, but by that stage Fa’asuamaleaui had already held down Burton as Gagai kept fighting.
While Fa’asuamaleaui stayed on the field, Burton and Gagai were sent to the sin bin.
“That’s footy,” Burton told The Sydney Morning Herald. “At the end of the day, what happens on the field stays on the field. We’ll just leave it at that. You don’t want to get sent off, and it obviously affects the team. The ref controls the game and that’s his decision.”
Blues winger Daniel Tupou said: “It all happened so fast. I didn’t even see it until it was on the big screen.
“[But] it’s obviously a shit go to see your teammate held like that. It was two on one and anyone would say that wasn’t a fair go. But in their backyard, they’re going to get that energy and hype. It was a bad look. But what do you do? Stand up for him and continue the game.”
Said Brian To’o: “We don’t like seeing the boys being outnumbered by many. We just wanted to get in there to help Burto and break up the fight.”
Peter V’landys denounced the fighting seen in the decider but has defended the NRL’s new judiciary code that allowed fighting players to escape with fines.
Stream the NRL premiership 2022 live and free on 9Now
The NRL match review committee charged all three players for their roles in the fight, but none will miss a game after the league opted to increase fines for offences in representative games and reduce suspensions. The NRL confirmed if fighting becomes an issue because of the new edict, then the only alternative is to raise the financial penalties.
“The game was brutal without the biff,” V’landys said.
“What we’ve done with the [judiciary code] is not try to penalise the fans and the clubs that provided the players, and the players will be fined a percentage of their match fee. If that’s not a sufficient deterrent we’ll take more of the match payment.
“We certainly don’t want [fighting] back. It’s the first time we’ve introduced this system and I think it will work. It probably needs some more consultation with the Rugby League Players Association to get it right, but my theory is we can’t penalise the fans and clubs.”