MELBOURNE Storm captain Cameron Smith last night admitted he was "shocked" to learn he was one of the first players to be charged for a grapple but will wait until today to decide whether to contest it.
Smith received a grade-one charge for his 30th-minute tackle on Warriors centre Brent Tate in his side's 32-18 victory on Monday night at the Telstra Dome.
An early guilty plea will allow him to play against the Sharks at Olympic Park on Sunday but it means he will be in dangerous territory with demerit points for the rest of the season.
He has until midday today to decide, but last night he insisted he didn't want to be made an example of by the NRL, which decided during the off-season to impose a crackdown on the contentious grapple tackle.
"I was quite shocked when I heard I was charged," Smith said. "I don't think I was putting prolonged pressure on Brent Tate's neck at any stage. I thought I was more wrapped around his torso.
"I'll have to decide this morning whether I contest it. I don't want to be copping 95 points because the NRL want to crack down on it, particularly when I don't think it was the grapple tackle they are claiming it was."
Smith, Wests Tigers prop Todd Payten and Parramatta five-eighth Feleti Mateo were all charged with the offence.
While Mateo has accepted an early guilty plea, Payten will risk a three-match ban and contest his charge at the NRL judiciary tonight for allegedly performing the "crusher" on Dragons fullback Josh Morris on Sunday.
Payten declined to comment when contacted last night but Smith said: "I saw that one too, and I don't think that was a crusher."
Tigers coach Tim Sheens also defended his player and accused the NRL of bowing to hysteria.
"We feel it's pretty innocuous," Sheens said. "From our point of view, we don't think he's guilty of anything other than an awkward tackle. I think it's a grey area for everyone because I don't think it's an issue for the game.
"How many thousand of tackles were made last year and I think there were two or three examples of it. I think a trend is more than two or three tackles.
"I think there's a little bit of a knee-jerk reaction to it."
