Learoyd-LahrsCanberra have cried poor that they weren’t given a fair hearing as the judiciary handed Tom Learoyd-Lahrs a suspension to see him out for the rest of the season after his dangerous throw on Ben Cross.

Unsuccessful in downgrading his grade 4 charge to a grade 3, Learoyd-Lahrs has been sidelined for seven matches.

If Canberra were to make the Grand Final, for Learoyd-Lahrs this means watching the game from the bench.  Don Furner, Raiders Chief Executive confirmed last night that Learoyd-Lahrs was disappointed at the outcome, as was the club.

The judiciary panel did not downgrade the charge after being shown examples of dangerous throws by Justin Hodges, Nate Myles, Todd Payten and Danny Galea that were deemed grade twos and threes which further annoyed the Raiders Chief Executive.

Furner believes there to be very little difference between Tom’s tackle and the ones shown to the judiciary.  He couldn’t believe a grade 4 was handed down.

Learoyd-Lahrs lifted Cross and dumped him into the ground early in the second half of the Raiders 38-18 win over the Knights.  A reduction would have meant Learoyd-Lahrs would have only been suspended for 3 weeks, however, the judiciary decided the original grading of a grade 4 would stand.

If Learoyd-Lahrs were to have entered an early guilty plea he could have possibly taken a five-week suspension only.  The Raiders argued that Cross tended to lean forwards into tackles, which meant he was more prone to being flipped. 

Learoyd-Lahrs claimed he didn’t think he would have lifted Cross so easily given he was such a big bloke. 

By ricky

2 thoughts on “Learoyd-Lahrs out for season”
  1. Good. About time that the panel excercised their power!
    although, i wonder if he was Billy Slater or another big name player, would he have received such a huge penalty? ask yourselves people!

  2. I reckon the big fella was a bit unlucky – I was at the game about 10 metres from where it happened and it was so quick I believe Tom’s version. One minute the Knights player is taking the ball up, next moment he’s on his head. Didn’t see anything deliberate about it, just a clumsy tackle. I would like to know if the judiciary watched it at normal speed – it obviously looks much worse in slow motion.

    2 weeks would have been about right.

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