Cowboys co-captain Reuben Cotter is free to play in Saturday night’s elimination final against the Sharks after a masterclass from defence counsel Tom Hancock who spent eight seasons in the Queensland Cup before he retired in 2022.
Cotter was facing a two-game ban if he’d been found guilty at Tuesday’s judiciary hearing after he was hit with a grade two careless high tackle charge for a high shot on Josh Papalii from the opening play of the game.
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The North Queensland lock was sent to the sin bin just 15 seconds into Saturday’s contest and was offered a one-match ban with an early guilty plea.
But the club rolled the dice and hit the jackpot with the representative star cleared to play this weekend after an initial blow was delivered by the judiciary panel of Henry Perenara and Bob Lindner.
The panel found Cotter guilty after a lengthy deliberation, but Hancock then sought a downgrade to the unanimous ruling when he was told he could by judiciary chairman Geoffrey Bellew.
The charge was reduced to a grade one which means Cotter has to pay a $1500 fine but is free to play in the first week of the finals.
Hancock’s footy experience proved telling, with the criminal lawyer representing North Queensland in the Toyota Cup before he played 128 games in the Queensland Cup.
Hancock didn’t deny that his client’s shoulder had come into contact with the veteran forward’s head, but he made it clear from the outset that the careless charge wasn’t warranted.
He argued that Cotter was knocked off his course by teammate Coen Hess which stopped him from making a normal tackle, with Hancock even playing with Hess for the Northern Pride a decade ago.
“It was entirely rational and what you’d expect when tackling a big dude on a kick-off,” he told the panel, with Hancock helping Cotter get off at the judiciary twice in the past month.
“Hess makes contact on his left shoulder and Reuben’s trajectory changed quite drastically from there.”
Hancock said Hess’ involvement meant Cotter’s body was bent out of whack and resulted in him turning into a “reverse C”.
He said there was nothing careless about Cotter’s approach and that he had no scope to predict the contact that bumped him off his legal trajectory.
NRL counsel Lachlan Gyles argued that there was direct contact between Cotter’s shoulder and his opponent’s head, with Papalii forced off for a head injury assessment which he passed.
He was adamant that it wasn’t a head clash and that there was a high level of force from Cotter who was rising in his contact before Hess bumped him.
“No reason at all that he couldn’t have dropped into a safe position where he wasn’t likely to come into contact with the head or neck of Papalii,” he said.
The panel agreed that Cotter was already moving upwards before Hess’ contact which played a role in the tackle, but wasn’t worthy of a grade two charge.
The verdict means Cotter will start at lock on Saturday night in Sydney, with the Queensland representative scoring three tries in his four finals games for the club.