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South Sydney officials are fuming after the National Rugby League (NRL) today rejected its request that last year's Kiwis tests be included in David Fa'alogo's suspension.
NRL judiciary chairman Greg Woods today ruled Fa'alogo would remain suspended until Souths' fifth round match against Cronulla on April 14.
The Kiwis forward was banned for seven matches late last season for punching Roosters player Braith Anasta in their round 25 match.
Souths' playoff defeat against Manly and two trial matches this year have so far counted towards the suspension.
Souths argued he should be available for the team's season opener in a fortnight because he was a certainty for Kiwis selection on last year's tour which included three tests against Great Britain and one against France.
The club said today it was "extremely disappointed" with the decision, and said his suspension was, in effect, now 12 matches.
Even a letter from Kiwis selection convenor Howie Tamati, confirming Fa'alogo would have been chosen for the tour if he wasn't suspended, didn't convince Woods.
"Considering all the material which has been presented to me, the most important consideration with me is that at the time of the suspension, he had not been selected in the representative team," Woods wrote.
"My conclusion is that the position is not altered. Where a proposed tour is actually shorter than a suspension - that is, where the number of matches to be played is less than the number of matches reflected in the penalty - it would be artificial in the extreme to believe that a player would be selected for a tour in which he was not going to participate."
Tamati's letter said Fa'alogo was initially selected for the test against Australia in Wellington in October and the subsequent tour of Britain and France, and attended a gathering of Kiwis squad members on August 29.
"The only factor that prevented David from taking the field was our belief that his NRL suspension operated to exclude him from participation in both the Wellington test against Australia and the touring team to Great Britain," Tamati wrote.
Today's findings continued a forgettable pre-season for Fa'alogo, who was sent home from Souths' pre-season tour to the United States in January, and fined A$10,000 ($11,746) for fighting.
Souths initially said Fa'alogo had returned to Sydney for personal reasons but the club later admitted he was involved in a fight at a taxi rank in Jacksonville, Florida, in January.
- NZPA
