Taylor Cops Five Week Ban
Queensland and South’s Sydney forward Dave Taylor will miss the next weeks of football after being found guilty of a grade two dangerous throw charge.
Taylor was attempting to have the charge downgraded to a grade one, which meant he would have only copped one week ban, however he was unsuccessful and he will now not play until round South’s round 22 clash against Parramatta.
Following the tribunal hearing, a distraught Taylor left the talking up to South’s CEO Shane Richardson.
“We’re bitterly disappointed in the decision, it’s just as simple as that,” Richardson said.
“We’ve been without a forward pack for most of the season so we’ll get somebody else to step up, simple as that.”
Any hopes Taylor had of being a shock inclusion in the Queensland side were dashed. There had been rumours during the week that if his charge was downgraded, Taylor could have been drafted into the Maroons squad because he would have served his suspension this weekend. However that wasn’t to be.
The decision led Queensland rugby league chief executive Ross Livermore to say ‘something is not right with the system’.
“I’m not saying this as a Queenslander, I’m saying this as an administrator of the game on the outside looking,” Livermore said.
“Are we saying that Dave Taylor’s tackle was five times worse than Uate’s? I think a grade one would have been applicable to Dave Taylor. He’s been very harshly dealt with based on the Uate precedent.”
Newcastle’s Akuila Uate escaped suspension for a similar tackle, which left him free to play in the second origin match.
Taylor’s defence counsel Jeff Bellew made several references to the Uate incident in his defence of Taylor.
“There was nothing, and there was never going to be anything lawful about that tackle…he grabbed him between the legs,” said Bellew of the Uate tackle.
“You can’t have a situation arise where it can be allowed to stand where tackles that are badly executed from the outset are treated the same way as tackles that start out legally but end up badly.
“There is nothing in the degree of force in the Taylor tackle that justifies the grading. He had control and then lost it. But Mr Uate never had control and that is significant.”
Not even supporting evidence from the referee could earn Taylor a reprieve.
Steven Lyons, who was the pocket referee at the time of Taylor’s tackle on Bronco Scott Anderson, said that Anderson’s decision to twist his body contributed to the dangerous position.
After an hour long hearing, the panel which consisting of Bob Linder, Darrell Williams and Ian Roberts deliberated for twenty minutes and returned the guilty verdict.
