Souths fume at Wighton ban for ‘head clash’ as stars now sidelined for 200 matches

3 months ago 21

South Sydney are considering challenging Jack Wighton’s potential four-week suspension for a shoulder charge as the club argues his contact on Cronulla’s Toby Rudolf was little more than a head clash.

Wighton was served a grade 2 dangerous contact charge on Sunday for the shot that saw him sin-binned in Saturday night’s loss to the Sharks.

The veteran five-eighth would risk a month on the sideline if he is unsuccessful at the judiciary, or could accept a three-week ban by taking an early guilty plea.

Wighton’s potential suspension is exacerbated by a 2023 shoulder charge on Jackson Hastings counting as a similar previous incident.

“We will review the charge sheet and get some advice from Nick Ghabar before deciding our next step,” South Sydney CEO Blake Solly said on Sunday.

Rabbitohs officials are privately stunned at the match review committee’s findings, and pointed to a try-saving effort by Brisbane’s Reece Walsh on Friday night, in which he appeared to make contact with Josh Addo-Carr’s head in cover defence.

Parramatta challenged Walsh’s hit on Addo-Carr as head contact from a shoulder charge, though the NRL Bunker dismissed the Eels claims.

Jack Wighton is sent to the sin bin for a tackle that left Toby Rudolf concussed.

Rudolf will miss Cronulla’s next game against North Queensland after failing a subsequent HIA from the head contact with Wighton.

Wighton, Souths coach Wayne Bennett declined to comment on the tackle after the Sharks 14-12 victory, while Cronulla’s Craig Fitzgibbon was largely unperturbed by the contact on his front-rower.

“I don’t really have an issue,” Fitzgibbon said

“He was just trying to shift energy for his team. Sometimes you get it right, sometimes you get it wrong.”

On-field referee Belinda Sharpe acknowledged Wighton’s “contact is head-on-head but it’s a shoulder charge with no attempt to wrap (your arms),” as she sent him to the sin bin.

Souths can ill-afford to lose Wighton given prop Junior Tatola was the latest big name facing a stint on the sidelines after he dislocated his shoulder on Saturday. He is considered unlikely to play again this year.

Tevita Tatola is helped from the field after dislocating his shoulder.

The loss of Tatola, a veteran of 158 NRL games and eight Tests for Tonga, will be especially problematic, given the absence of fellow big men Moale and Koloamatangi.

The Rabbitohs have won only two of their past 14 games after a bright start to 2025 that featured four wins in the first five weeks. Saturday’s eighth consecutive defeat equalled the longest losing streak of Bennett’s illustrious coaching career.

That has allowed Gold Coast, who scored a boilover win in Auckland on Saturday, to climb out of the competition cellar and leapfrog Souths, though the Rabbitohs still have a bye in hand.

Nonetheless, with five games remaining, the Rabbitohs are in danger of collecting their first wooden spoon since 2006 and the first of Bennett’s illustrious career.

The play the Titans in two weeks at CBus Super Stadium in what shapes as a loser-takes-all “spoon bowl”.

A terse Bennett clearly had no intention of discussing his team’s position on the ladder at the post-match press conference on Saturday.

“I knew someone would ask that question,” he said.

“I’m not answering it.”

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