The Canterbury Bulldogs are counting the cost of their Thursday night loss to the Brisbane Broncos, with three players receiving suspensions out of a chaotic evening at Suncorp Stadium.
A trio of Bulldogs – Josh Curran, Sitili Tupouniua and Marcelo Montoya – were sent to the sin-bin during the club’s streak-ending 18-42 loss; while several others were lucky to escape the same fate.
Curran was marched inside the first ten minutes of the match after a high shoulder to the head of Payne Haas.
Making matters worse, Tupouniua was then sent for ten with the score at 34-0 late in the first half, after high contact on Brendan Piakura.
Montoya was unluckier, sin-binned in a controversial second half incident in which Piakura fell into his shoulder after a Viliame Kikau tackle.
Things could have been even worse, with Matt Burton staying on the field after a high hit on Billy Walters late in the first half that would have reduced the Bulldogs to 11 men; while Tupouniua was extremely fortunate to avoid being sin-binned for a second time after a raised knee collected Piakura during a tackle.
NRL journalist Phil ‘Buzz’ Rothfield was among those baffled by the mistake, posting on X that the NRL ‘has completely lost the plot with the bunker’.
Broncos captain Adam Reynolds was heard on the referee mic insisting to Gerard Sutton that Tupouniua be sent off.
“That’s a send-off, mate – what’s the game come to?” he said.
“We give a little bump… and it’s ten in the bin.”
The Dogs have paid a heavy price for the night of ill discipline, with a combined 13 weeks’ suspension doled out to Curran, Tupouniua and Burton for their acts.
Burton was hit with a Grade 2 careless high tackle charge to earn a two-week ban that he can have downgraded to one with an early plea, while Curran received a hefty four-match sanction that can be reduced to three for his Grade 2 shoulder charge.
Tupouniua was hardest hit, copping two suspensions for his twin acts – a four-game ban that can come down to three for his shoulder charge, and a three-game sanction down to two for his high knee in Piakura.
All up, he will spend at least five weeks on the sidelines unless the Bulldogs can successfully challenge one or both of his bans.
Montoya was the only sin-binned Bulldog spared.
Speaking after the match, Dogs coach Cameron Ciraldo lamented his side’s ill discipline, describing the frequent sin-binnings as a ‘ball-ache’.
“It was a comedy of errors but we’ll walk away with plenty of lessons tonight,” he said.
“Number one – we’re not good enough to be beaten by the laws of the game like that. Number two – we’re not good enough to play as individuals. And number three – we never give up.
“Everything that could get penalised got penalised and everything got picked up. It was a ball-ache to watch for me so I’m sure everyone else felt the same.
“We were trying so hard and a couple of high tackles on the back of it [a slow start].
“We’ve been pretty disciplined so we’ll fix that pretty quickly.”
The Bulldogs’ loss was their first of the season after a 6-0 start, but they remain comfortably clear atop the NRL ladder.
They face the Gold Coast Titans in Magic Round weekend, while they are set to be without Curran for further matches against the Raiders in Canberra and the Sydney Roosters, and Tupouniua for clashes with the Dolphins and Parramatta Eels.
A five-game ban would leave Tupouniua unable to represent the club until after King’s Birthday.
