KEY POINTS:
Kiwi Adam Blair will escape a ban for his alleged "chicken wing" tackle despite being charged by the NRL match review committee.
The Melbourne Storm forward was yesterday handed a grade one contrary conduct charge for unnecessary pressure to the arm of Brisbane's Michael Ennis during the Storm's
win on Friday night.
Given the charge is at the lowest end of the scale, Blair will escape suspension with an early guilty plea but faces a one-match ban if he contests the charge and loses.
Blair, who played four Kiwis tests in 2006, maintained his innocence at the weekend after being placed on report by referee Jared Maxwell for the incident which incensed the Brisbane camp.
Maxwell penalised Blair for the tackle which left Ennis screaming in pain when he appeared to have his arm pinned behind his back as pressure was applied.
"I didn't deliberately do it," Blair said.
"It was all in one motion. It was all going down to the ground. I was just holding his hand and it twisted over myself, so there's nothing in it."
The "chicken wing" tackle is the latest controversy to hit the NRL.
The NRL last week ordered a crackdown on the controversial wrestling hold after recent sanctions for the so-called "grapple tackle" where pressure is applied to an opponent's neck.
Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett said Ennis had "felt his shoulder dislocating", and called on the NRL to act swiftly.
"What I'd like the league to do is let everybody know, in no uncertain terms, that the game is not going to tolerate what we've just spent the last 12 months going through, [with the grapple tackle], until it became farcical at the end," Bennett said.
"The game is not about wrestling holds and technique. The game is about tackling technique and if you don't tackle somebody properly, then the game is going to erupt."
Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy insisted he didn't teach his players to grab opponents' arms in the tackle.
Meanwhile, Canberra prop Michael Weyman faces a minimum five-match ban for the punch which left Gold Coast's Daniel Conn with a bloodied face.
Weyman was hit with two charges yesterday, a grade four striking charge for the punch and a grade one striking charge for an earlier incident.
It means he gets a five-match ban with a guilty plea or a seven-match ban if he contests both charges and loses.
- NZPA
