West Tigers will be without halfback Aiden Sezer for at least four weeks after he was hit with a lengthy ban for a hip drop tackle in Saturday's contest with the Bulldogs.
Sezer was not sent to the sin bin during the match despite being placed on report, but the match review committee have come down hard on the veteran half.
There were a whopping seven charges from the heated Tigers-Bulldogs clash — including two for Reed Mahoney.
Mahoney was charged twice, once for a dangerous throw on Alaimalo Solomon ($2,500 with an early plea) and then for his part in the late match brawl with Alex Seyfarth ($1,800), who in turn is facing $1,500 for striking after he headbutted the Bulldogs hooker.
After the match on Saturday, Mahoney claimed his opponents suffer from "big man syndrome" and he was only protecting his mates.
"They don't like little people talking up to them. Maybe that's their fault, not mine," he said.
"I go into those sorts of scuffles because I'm there to protect my mate. That's what we're about here, protecting each other to the death.
"I'm just there to do that, I'm not there to start anything, I'm there to protect and stand up for my boys. That's how I see it."
Meanwhile, Bulldogs player Sam Hughes can accept a $3,000 fine with an early guilty plea after appearing to shove referee Casey Badger midway through the opening half.
That will rise to a two-game ban if he opts to fight the charge and is found guilty by the panel.
David Klemmer, meanwhile, is facing a fine of $3,000 or two matches for his dissent towards Badger.
In Sunday's NRL matches Cronulla-Sutherland came from behind to beat St George Illawarra 20-10 at a sodden Shark Park to go back top of the ladder.
That came after the Knights edged the Warriors 14-8 in atrocious conditions in Newcastle.
Look back on how all the action unfolded in our live blog.
Original story : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-05/nrl-live-updates-sunday-knights-warriors-sharks-dragons/103806780
