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Daly Cherry-Evans has avoided being suspended for the first time in his 14-year career, rolling the dice to dodge a three-match ban after having his dangerous throw charge downgraded at the judiciary.
Cherry-Evans arrived at the judiciary looking like a kid in a candy store and walked out two hours later on Tuesday night after fighting to avoid a three-game suspension for a dangerous throw on Shaun Lane with just a $750 fine.
The Sea Eagles had earlier accepted a two-match suspension for Haumole Olakau’atu, but elected to try and downgrade Cherry-Evans’ charge for his role in the same tackle.
DCE’s positive verdict means he will be free to face the Raiders this Friday at Brookvale.
Cherry-Evans was represented by legal eagle Nick Ghabar while Sea Eagles coach Anthony Seibold and football manager John Bonasera were also by his side for the hearing with Lachlan Giles SC representing the NRL before panel members Tony Puletua and Greg McCallum, with Geoff Bellew the chairman.
Daly Cherry-Evans. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Cherry-Evans and his legal team successfully claimed teammate Haumole Olakau’atu was largely responsible for the dangerous throw of Lane. They also claimed Cherry-Evans’ technique in the tackle was something he had used countless times before without issue.
“I started to tackle him in the way I have used many times before with the bigger fellas,” Cherry-Evans said during the 83-minute hearing.
“That would be to use them running at me and then at some point trying to use my leg to leverage them to bring them to the ground.
“It’s not the first choice of tackle, but it’s definitely a tackle I have used in this situation before.
“It’s something I have done a lot of times, feel very comfortable with and have never hurt anyone before.”
The hearing was shown several replays of the tackle from various camera angles.
Cherry-Evans’ lawyer Nick Ghabar argued Olakau’atu had caused the danger, by grabbing Lane’s buttocks and lifting his body into the air.
Ghabar also claimed diminutive halfback Cherry-Evans would have required “superhuman” strength to counteract the momentum of Lane and Olakau’atu.
The 85kg Cherry-Evans offered the odd wise crack in his first outing, joking he would not “weight shame” Olakau’atu and Lane by guessing their size.
But jokes aside, the Manly halfback was adamant there was nothing he could do to stop the throw.
“They’re two really big fellas,” Cherry-Evans said.
“I genuinely don’t believe I could have helped mitigate the risk of what was happening in that tackle.”
It took panel members Greg McCallum and Tony Puletua 10 minutes to side with Cherry-Evans, sparing him the first ban of his career.
In doing so, they disagreed with NRL counsel Lachlan Gyles’s claim Cherry-Evans’ use of his leg had created a “fulcrum” that ultimately tipped Lane over.
“It’s definitely a relief, that’s probably the best way to summarise it,” Cherry-Evans said afterwards.
“We came here pretty confident that there was a fair case to answer for and to get downgraded, so I’m really happy with the process and I can’t complain.
“It didn’t really concern me about having a blemish on the record, it was more around fighting for what we thought was a fair grading.”
Manly will still be without Olakau’atu for two matches against the Raiders and Dolphins, after he pleaded guilty for his role in the tackle on Lane.
But with Cherry-Evans in their side their fight to keep pace with the NRL’s top four has been handed a massive boost.
In a double victory for Cherry-Evans, his win means he is still eligible to claim the Dally M at year’s end after sitting third on the leaderboard following eight rounds.
with AAP
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