Bennett defends Dolphins lock Plath after hip drop
Joel Gould |
Wayne Bennett has defended Dolphins lock Max Plath after he was put on report for a hip drop tackle on Gold Coast winger Phil Sami on Saturday night.
The Dolphins won 30-14 but face a nervous wait from the match review committee on Sunday when they issue the charge sheet.
Plath was sin-binned in the 27th minute of the Dolphins’ 30-14 win over the Titans at Robina. Sami received treatment from the Titans trainer but went on to play the rest of the match.
Titans forward David Fifita, returning from a pectoral tear in his first NRL game of the season, was also put on report for a trip on Dolphins winger Jamayne Isaako late in the match.
Plath was distraught after making the tackle on Sami, which he clearly believed was an accident.
Bennett threw his support behind the player.
“They will have to look at it but it is a difficult area that hip drop,” Bennett said.
“Max Plath hasn’t got a dirty bone in his body so it was never intentional. We don’t coach it and we don’t talk about it. We don’t practise anything like that.
“If it has gone wrong, it has gone wrong, and we will have to pay the consequences.”
When Plath was in the bin the Dolphins players rallied, after going behind 10-0 early. They did not concede a point while he was off the field.
“You have got options there,” Bennett said.
“You can feel sorry for yourself or not let your teammate down. Max is such a valued part of the team and the boys think so highly of him that I think they all said, ‘we are not going to let him down’.
“I couldn’t ask them to have responded any better than they did.”
AAP
