Newcastle's Phoenix Crossland has been sent off in the preliminary final for the hip-drop tackle that broke Penrith superstar Nathan Cleary's ankle.
An emotional Crossland agonisingly watched the replay looping on the stadium big screens as Cleary was given the green whistle and medicabbed off the ground.
Cleary's injury was later confirmed to be a compound fracture and dislocation of the left ankle, and he immediately went to hospital for scans and treatment.
The hooker looked on the brink of tears when he was summoned to hear his punishment from referee Gerard Sutton.
“Initially he's up high, makes a definite action to twist and comes down on the leg with weight, there’s extreme risk of serious injury, you’re off," Sutton told Crossland and Knights captain Kalyn Ponga.
It's the first send-off for a hip-drop tackle in NRL history, after the maneuver was outlawed in 2020. The typical punishment is a 10 minute sin bin.
It reduced Newcastle to 12 men for the remaining 45 minutes of the contest.
The tackle had the packed Accor Stadium crowd all holding their breath, as Cleary's foot stuck out for all to see on a very unnatural angle.
“It shouldn’t be at that angle. You can see the reaction of the players, they heard a crack," Andrew Johns said on the Nine Network.
"It’s a sad sight, you wouldn’t wish this on any player at anytime, but (certainly not) to our game’s champion player," Phil Gould added.
The Penrith fans in the crowd, although outnumbered by blue and red, let out raucous cheers when the send-off was announced.
During the 2022 NRL preliminary final, South Sydney Rabbitohs winger Taane Milne was sent off for a wild high tackle on Penrith's Spencer Leniu, at the time becoming the first player to be sent off in an NRL finals match since 1994.
