- Kyle Flanagan has been found guilty of biting an opponent
- Dragons star denied biting Stephen Crichton last week
- He has been given a huge suspension after the incident
Kyle Flanagan has been found guilty of biting Canterbury captain Stephen Crichton on the nose, in a major blow to St George Illawarra’s chances of reaching the finals, the NRL judiciary said.
A devastated Flanagan was told what had happened to him after a 95-minute hearing on Tuesday night. The commission will now determine how long he should be suspended for the dangerous contact charge.
He has been suspended for four games, meaning he will not play for the rest of the regular season.
Flanagan repeatedly maintained during the hearing that he “absolutely did not bite Stephen Crichton,” and claimed he did not know he had a nose in his mouth.
The Dragons five-eighth player was adamant he was the first victim in the incident, feeling pressured by the Bulldogs defenders and being punched in the eye by Crichton.
“Crichton moved his head forward, suffocating my face with a suffocating feeling,” Flanagan told the panel.
‘I felt trapped and locked in. I felt like I had nowhere else to go and then I used a crocodile technique to roll to the side and play the ball for my team.’
Flanagan also claimed that his eyes were closed at the time of the incident and that his mouth was partially closed.
Kyle Flanagan has been found guilty by the NRL of biting an opponent
Flanagan denied biting Stephen Crichton’s nose during the Dragons match last weekend
“I partially closed my jaw. I didn’t bite Stephen Crichton,” Flanagan said.
“I did not cause those injuries.”
His attorney, James McLeod, claimed that Crichton caused the cuts on his nose when he ran it along Flanagan’s teeth as he tried to remove his nose from his mouth.
But the panel of Henry Perenara and Greg McCallum sided with NRL lawyer Lachlan Gyles, who argued that Flanagan was responsible for putting Crichton’s nose in his mouth.
“As Crichton’s head moved up, his nose was held back and compressed in your mouth and then released,” Gyles said.
‘Crichton puts pressure on your face and acts aggressively towards you, in a way that you don’t like.
“The reason his nose went into your mouth was because you moved your head to the left. It was your movement that brought his nose into your mouth.
‘You clenched your jaw, so what was between your bottom teeth and the bit was Stephen Crichton’s nose.’
The verdict was handed down despite Crichton not making himself available for the hearing, earning him a firm rebuff from McLeod.
“It is extraordinary and something that needs to be taken into account,” McLeod said.
He has been given a four-game suspension, meaning he will miss the remainder of the regular season
“When you have footage that is inconclusive and you have a complete lack of evidence from the prosecution, when it is clear that he can provide some insight into what happened, then that is a matter which highlights the lack of supporting evidence that you would need to bring this charge.”
Flanagan’s father and Dragons coach Shane was not in attendance. Kyle was flanked by St George Illawarra CEO Ryan Webb and football boss Ben Haran.
The Saints now need to find a five-eighth to reach the final, with Jack Bird on the bench to face Gold Coast on Sunday.
The Dragons are ninth in the NRL rankings and have only one more game to play against a team ranked higher this season.