NRL fans are outraged after Dally M Medal favorite Jahrome Hughes had several votes deducted for ‘accidentally’ bumping into a referee.
In March, Storm ‘reluctantly’ accepted an early plea to a grade two adverse conduct offense after Hughes appeared to collide with referee Chris Butler after the referee was between the Storm halfback and Warriors center Rocco Berry.
Despite his side beating the Warriors 30-26, the Storm vice-captain was ultimately handed a two-match ban.
While Hughes has had a sensational season and takes the lead to win this year’s Dally M Medal, the 29-year-old’s omission at the time proved costly, with the Storm losing the subsequent match against Newcastle.
Many were outraged by the punishment the Storm star received, with NRL great Michael Ennis declaring his suspension was ‘absolute stupidity’ at Fox Sports.
Melbourne also confirmed that Hughes had contacted Butler to apologize and confirmed the action was ‘unintentional’.
Jahrome Hughes of the Storm and Molly Hughes were pictured at the Dally M Awards on Wednesday
Hughes had six votes deducted after he was suspended earlier this year after colliding with referee Chris Butler during a match
Hughes received a two-match ban for the incident and would have been on pole position in the best and fairest medal race without the sanction.
It appears the incident also cost him a few votes in the Dally M medal count, with the Melbourne star having scored 27 points from rounds 13 to 18 – which should have made him an outright leader to win the coveted top and fairest to win. award.
Hughes was deducted six votes for the pressure on Butler and on Wednesday it appeared to have pushed him down the rankings to win the best and fairest medal, behind Daly Cherry-Evans and James Tedesco.
It also sent some fans on social media into a frenzy, with some calling it “ridiculous.”
“Jahrome Hughes losing six votes in the Dally M because he accidentally made contact with a referee could be the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard of,” said someone on X (formerly Twitter).
“Man, if Jahrome Hughes doesn’t win the Dally M because he runs into the referee, this should be the last time we get this award,” another added.
“He had no choice, it’s absolute stupidity (of the NRL to charge him). Let’s not gloss over it because it’s absolute stupidity,” Ennis said on Fox League.
‘Rocco Berry came back inside, Hughes expects the referee to keep an eye on him, to get in his way.
‘Common sense says that this is not one of those moments when a player is frustrated and puts his hand on the referee. That’s what we don’t want in our game. We don’t want referees to ever be touched if they don’t have to, but that was just a complete accident by Jahrome Hughes.
The 29-year-old then dropped to third place in the medal race after lap 18
Hughes’ suspension (pictured) was criticized by many within the NRL, with Mick Ennis labeling it ‘stupidity’.
‘Common sense has to prevail, I hope they combat that because he should never miss a week for it and the fact that he has been charged is just absolute stupidity, it’s just absolutely ridiculous.’
Melbourne wrote a statement about the incident earlier this year: ‘Jahrome has contacted referee Chris Butler to apologize and emphasize that his actions were unintentional.
‘We are disappointed that a failed assessment challenge would also have resulted in an additional week’s suspension. We recognize that the system is set up to avoid judicial hearings, but in this case we believe that the risk of a fine for contesting the charge is too high given the circumstances of the incident.
“Ultimately, the threat of an additional week of suspension on top of our club’s farewell next weekend was the determining factor in our decision, but we do not believe this is a fair outcome.”