Knights cop blow before finals with two stars suspended
Updated . First published
Dom Young will miss the final game of Newcastle’s regular season after being charged for an ugly tackle that injured Sea Eagles star Tolu Koula.
Manly were trailing in the first half of their 44-24 win over the Knights on Saturday afternoon when Koula collected a short ball and attempted to stride towards the tryline, only to be brought down by a hip-drop tackle by Young.
Dom Young’s hip-drop. Fox League
Koula was slow to his feet but managed to play the ball before teammate Caleb Navale barged over to score a try and get Manly back in the contest.
“He [Young] might find himself in a bit of trouble there,” Luke Keary said in commentary as a replay was shown on Fox League.
“It had all the mechanisms of a hip-drop, he lost his weight.”
Shortly after Jamal Fogarty nailed the conversion, referee Wyatt Raymond called out Young and gave him his marching orders for 10 minutes.
Young has since been charged with grade two dangerous contact and will miss one match with an early guilty plea, which means he won’t play again until the NRL finals with the Knights scheduled for a round 27 bye.
Veteran teammate Tyson Frizell will also miss one match after being slapped with a grade two dangerous contact charge for a tackle on Tom Trbojevic.
Manly’s medical team confirmed Koula had suffered a syndesmosis injury.
“It looked really bad,” Keary added after learning of the diagnosis.
Despite losing one of their best attacking weapons, Manly took complete control for the second half and ran away with a dominant victory to keep their slim top-eight chances alive, spoiling the party at McDonald Jones Stadium.
Josh Feledy bagged a hat-trick for the visitors, while outside backs Reuben Garrick, Jason Saab and Lehi Hopoate then added three more tries.
Newcastle only found the tryline once in the second half via Fletcher Hunt.
