MANLY are expected to fail with a bold bid to have centre Jamie Lyon cleared to play for NSW by serving a suspension in a Sea Eagles game - but Parramatta winger Eric Grothe has emerged as a shock weapon who could help Lyon beat the charge and represent the Blues.
It would be one of league's great ironies if it proved to be the key factor in Lyon getting off the grade-one dangerous throw charge - an Eels player helping to clear the way for Lyon to make his first State of Origin appearance since he walked out on Parramatta early in 2004. Grothe was the victim of the tackle in Friday night's game at Brookvale Oval that led to Lyon being charged yesterday, but the Parramatta winger described it as a "nothing" incident and said it would be "ridiculous" if Lyon missed an Origin match over it.
"I wasn't hurt, I'm not angry about the tackle. He didn't try to dump me on my head - it was an accident," Grothe told the Herald yesterday. "I was only worried about the fact I dropped the ball when I hit the ground.
"The other guys thought maybe we should have got a penalty but it's no big deal. It's a non-issue as far as I'm concerned. If I landed upside down, well, that's the way it goes sometimes. It's rugby league - shit happens. You know when a guy is trying to make a bad tackle on you - there was no malice in that tackle."
Grothe said he would be happy to do whatever he could to help Lyon try to beat the charge, presuming Lyon pleads not guilty at a hearing tomorrow night.
"I would help, for sure," Grothe said. "But I don't think I'd be able to go down there because I've got band practice on Wednesday nights. If they wanted me to help, I'd probably have to write something or maybe they could ring me from the hearing."
The charge Lyon faces would bring him a one-match suspension whether he entered an early guilty plea or fought the charge and was found guilty.
Sea Eagles chief executive Grant Mayer yesterday instructed solicitor Geoff Bellew to write to judiciary chairman Greg Woods, asking if he would consider using his discretionary powers to enable Lyon to enter an early guilty plea and serve his suspension in Manly's home game against Brisbane on Monday.
The NSW team for Origin I will be named at 11am today and the normal procedure for players suspended for one game and also chosen for a representative game is that the ban covers both the club and rep games.
That is because selection for the Blues would make Lyon - who is a certain inclusion - ineligible to play for the Sea Eagles anyway. "It will be a matter of whether the chairman chooses to use his discretion," Bellew said yesterday.
But Woods has said that, while he would look at any application, he would be "consistent with established policy" so that players affected by such circumstances could not get a "free kick".
NSWRL general manager Geoff Carr said yesterday there was no chance of the Blues using an old Queensland ploy of marking a centre spot as TBA - to be announced - so that Lyon could serve his suspension for Manly and then be added to the NSW team.
The Maroons pulled that trick with Lote Tuqiri in 2002 but there is now an agreement between the NSW and Queensland leagues that neither state will do that.
Lyon returned to Sydney last night after three days in his home town of Wee Waa and Mayer said the player was "shocked" to learn he had been charged.
Two other players - Manly centre Steve Matai (grade-three careless high tackle) and Sydney Roosters prop Danny Nutley (grade-one dangerous throw) were also charged following the weekend round.
Nutley can avoid suspension with an early guilty plea., while Matai faces the possibility of one or two games out.
And the NRL has issued Cronulla with a breach notice, proposing a $10,000 fine, for alleged abuse by coaching staff of a sideline official during Friday's game against Brisbane.
