Manly are facing an anxious wait to see what punishment is dished out to Karl Lawton after he was sent off during a 40-22 defeat against South Sydney on Friday night.
The Sea Eagles are out to finish in the top eight of the NRL but will have to do without Lawton for a spell following his dismissal against the Rabbitohs.
Dangerous tackle
Lawton lasted just eight minutes of the game before being sent off for a dangerous tackle on South Sydney skipper Cameron Murray.
All parties agreed after the game that Lawton did not mean to send Murray head first in to the turf. But it remains to be seen how the judiciary will view the incident.
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"He's devastated, the poor kid. He's such a hard worker, he plays the game at pace, and he has a nice temperament so there was certainly no malice in the tackle but there will probably be some consequences to face on that tackle,” Manly coach Des
Hasler said after the game.
“Would you send him or would you sin bin him? I thought maybe a decision could have been disputed there but either way he wasn't going to stay on the field and we'll leave the judiciary to decide on that one."
Not deliberate
Souths coach Jason Demetriou agreed that the tackle was not deliberate but was just relieved that Murray avoided serious injury.
"I don't think it was deliberate," Demetriou added. "It was one of those things that happened. It was a really dangerous tackle. And Cam is really lucky he rolled. If he tried to straighten, he would have been in a lot of trouble.”
