Jack Wighton is set to miss next year's NRL season opener in Las Vegas after Mal Meninga put a line through allowing the South Sydney recruit to serve a suspension in the Test arena.
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The outgoing Canberra Raiders star was hit with a three-game ban for biting Newcastle five-eighth Tyson Gamble during a pulsating elimination final on Sunday.
The Rabbitohs are hoping to shave one game off the ban by having next year's NRL All Stars match included in the suspension - but either way, Wighton will miss the season opener.
Kangaroos coach Meninga has shot down any hope of naming Wighton in his Australian squad for the Pacific Championships, conceding the thought of allowing a player to serve a ban at Test level to be free for their club is disappointing.
Wighton would have needed to backflip on his representative retirement - which he announced earlier this year - and have Meninga name him in the Australian squad to have any chance of serving his entire ban before the start of the 2024 NRL season.
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Instead, he will watch from afar when the Rabbitohs face Manly at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas next year, dashing hopes he would play in the NRL's foray into the American market with a double-header.
The match review committee referred Wighton directly to the judiciary after he was placed on report just after half-time of the Knights' 30-28 win in Newcastle on Sunday.
Gamble's forearm was wrapped around Wighton's chin while attempting a tackle, after which Gamble immediately claimed to referee Ashley Klein he had been bitten.
Klein told the bunker he had seen a row of bite marks on Gamble's forearm but opted against sending Wighton from the field, instead placing him on report.
Wighton entered a not guilty plea and appeared via video link before the judiciary, supported by Raiders football manager Matt Ford and chief executive Don Furner.
Defence counsel Nick Ghabar did not dispute contact had been made with Gamble's forearm but Wighton claimed the tackler had applied "extreme" pressure to the back of his head and his face.
"His forearm actually fell into my mouth before I could even close it," Wighton said.
"I've got no alternative, nowhere to go. It was full body weight, full pressure. My mouth was jammed open, not at one stage did I clench, not one little bit."
The case of NRL counsel Patrick Knowles hinged on the suggestion there had not been any more pressure applied than in any standard NRL tackle. Wighton didn't like the claim.
"How many games of rugby league have you played?" he retorted before being reprimanded by Bellew.
Knowles suggested that mere pressure alone would not have created such a clear indentation on Gamble's forearm and there was an intent to bite.
Ghabar said no intent to bite could be proven, insisting the six camera angles of the incident did not show a tightening of Wighton's facial muscles that would be consistent with a bite.
But the judiciary counsel was persuaded by Gamble's immediate approach to Klein claiming to have been bitten, and an apparent tilting action from Wighton consistent with a bite.
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Caden Helmers
Caden Helmers is a sports journalist for The Canberra Times.
Caden Helmers is a sports journalist for The Canberra Times.
