Eagles captain charged

Mt Hagen Eagles captain Levai Andrew is facing more than 10 weeks’ suspension after being charged with two separate grade three contrary conduct charges by the Papua New Guinea National Rugby League Competition match review committee yesterday.
The Eagles centre was found guilty for swearing at referee Bonny Bin and refusing to leave the field after being sin-binned by the match official during the Eagles round four clash with Central Dabaris at the Jonah Ambane Oval in Minj, Jiwaka.
PNGNRLC pathways and performance general manager Tony Archer told The National last night that Andrew had 48 hours to respond to the charges before the committee takes disciplinary action.
“At this stage the player is charged and it is depending on if the player pleads guilty and accepts the penalty,” Archer said.
“The club have 48 hours to make a decision or make a submission.”
Eagles head coach Francis Ray could not comment last night as the team management had a meeting to discuss Andrew’s charges.
“We knew of the committee’s decision on social media and will comment after our meeting tonight (last night),” Ray told The National.
The Dabaris released a statement on their Facebook page yesterday saying: “We will allow that process to take its course and expect that a judicious outcome will be delivered, upholding the integrity of the competition managers and does not bring the game further into disrepute”.
Archer admitted that match referee Bin was wrong for changing his decision late in the match that ended in an 18-18 draw. After almost a two-minute delay, without the skipper leaving the field, the referee decided to place the player on report and continue the game with Andrew still on the field.
“As with all matches in the competition, we conduct a full review of the game,” Archer said.
“It is disappointing that this incident occurred in the match. The actions of the referee, player and some officials involved were not what is expected in the game.
“Respecting the decision of a match referee and that correct application of the rules of the game from a referee are essential. We are driving hard in improving the professionalism of our game and to have this incident occur is unfortunate and not to the standards we require.”
Bin has been stood down from officiating this weekend’s round five matches. Further investigations into the actions of the club, its officials and the game day staff is currently in progress.