Taane Milne will miss two weeks with an early plea for an incident on Storm star Cam Munster in the dying seconds of the Rabbitohs’ 54-20 loss to the Storm, which saw the Souths flyer sin binned.
Milne was slugged with a Grade 3 Dangerous Contact charge from the match review committee for the brain fade.
With the game just about over, Storm five-eighth Cameron Munster was standing, but wrapped up in a tackle when Milne came in and purposely tried to take out his legs.
Storm forward Joe Chan immediately reacted, pulling Milne by his jersey before players from both sides ran in.
“This is going to finish in a nasty fashion,” Fox League commentator Dan Ginnane said.
“Milne saw a chance to put a shot down low and he took it… That is ugly.”
“It’s an ordinary effort from Milne with no time left on the clock,” Cooper Cronk added.
“Diving below the knee… you can hyperextend, and that could be ACL territory.
“That is a terrible, terrible effort there from Taane Milne.”
The 28-year-old will miss three weeks if he challenges the charge and loses.
“You can’t do that, and it’s the intent in which he goes into the legs. He just spears in,” he said post-game.
“There was three or four seconds left in the game. It was completely unnecessary and viciously dangerous.
Coach Jason Demetriou was asked about the incident in his post-game press conference and didn’t hold back.
“It probably ends a dumb night on a dumb note,” he said.
“I thought he was trying to come in and got knocked down so I’ll have to have a look at it closely but (it’s) a frustrating way to end the game.”