Stephen Crichton has been called out for some ‘unnecessary’ on field acts during this season following an incident involving Storm star Ryan Papenhuyzen last Friday night.
In a tackle on Papenhuyzen, Crichton made what appeared to be deliberate contact to the face of the Storm fullback before slamming his head to the ground.
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Despite being put on report, the Bulldogs skipper wasn’t charged for the incident, which infuriated The Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield.
In a column he penned for the paper, Rothfield said that the tackle on Papenhuyzen last Friday wasn’t the only example of Crichton performing a ‘cheap shot’ this season.
“I think he’s arguably the best centre in rugby league but he’s got a lot of cheap shots in his game,” Rothfield said on the Big Sports Breakfast radio show when explaining the reason behind writing his Crichton column.
“He’s had two priors this year for dangerous contact. That was the third one over the weekend and he’ll get a concerning act notice.
“Crichton had a knee to the head of the Dragons winger in Round 1. He then did a cheap shot to the head of Lindsay Collins.”
The NRL didn’t suspend Crichton for any of the three incidents above.
That led to Rothfield calling Crichton ‘Teflon Dog’ in his column, believing the Bulldogs star has been let off lightly by the NRL.
“I don’t think he’s a dirty player. He should have got a fine for the (Papenhuyzen) incident on the weekend,” Rothfield said.
“It was unnecessary contact to the head. Intentional. Clearly intentional.
“I’ve looked at it a number of times, and look I don’t want to line up a great player like him because he’s definitely not a thug, but he seems to be getting a rails run by the NRL.”
Rothfield compared the incident to that of the Harry Grant shoulder charge in the same game which saw Grant sin binned.
The Storm hooker was charged and suspended for the tackle, copping a two-game ban.
