Blood
‘Fair bit of blood and teeth marks’: Bobsledder-turned NRLW flyer awaits biting fallout
Jul
By Billie Eder
Bobsleigh athlete turned Broncos NRLW player Ashleigh Werner has been referred straight to the NRL judiciary after being sent off for allegedly biting Jayme Fressard in Saturday night’s game against the Roosters.
Fressard made the accusation after a tackle in the 53rd minute of the game, telling referee Wyatt Raymond that Werner “bit me”.
The bunker reviewed the video and sent Werner from the field, with Raymond telling Broncos skipper Ali Brigginshaw “you can’t bite someone like that”.
Werner’s send-off was the first in NRLW history and the Brisbane winger has now been referred directly to the judiciary. A direct referral gives the judiciary panel scope to issue a punishment beyond the maximum gradings and charges outlined in the NRL’s judiciary code.
Roosters’ coach John Strange said after the game Fressard’s arm had “a few teeth marks in it”.
“She [Fressard] is not too happy, but we’ll leave that up to the judiciary to deal with that. It’s unfortunate that’s happened in the game, but Fressy will be OK,” Strange said.
Broncos NRLW player Ashleigh Werner.Credit: NRL Imagery
“There’s teeth marks in her arm, so I’m not sure if the mouthguards shaped like teeth, but there’s a fair bit of blood and teeth marks. But anyway that’s done, that’s not up to us now to deal with, that’s up to the judiciary and we’ll leave that to them.”
Broncos coach Scott Prince had not spoken to Werner before his post-match press conference, but said he would wait and see what the accusation was.
“From the vision, it sort of doesn’t look that good,” Prince said.
“When you’ve got an arm around your mouth, she’s got a mouth guard in, just a bit of contact with the teeth, it obviously would have looked like and felt like a bite, but we’ll have to look.
“We’ll have to have a look and find out what the go is in terms of the accusation from [Jayme] Fressard.
“If there are marks we’ll have to trust the judgements, but we’ll have to wait and see.”
Former Dragons player Madison Bartlett was the first NRLW player to be charged with biting in 2022, after an incident involving Parramatta’s Sereana Naitokatoka.
Bartlett was referred directly to the judiciary for the incident, which wasn’t picked up in the game.
Ashleigh Werner and Kiara Reddingius in the two-women bobsled World Cup race in Austria in 2021.Credit: AP
She was given a one-match suspension after successfully arguing that, given the short NRLW season, it was the equivalent of Kevin Proctor receiving a four-match penalty for biting a rival, which over 20 rounds that season equated to missing one-fifth of the competition.
With the NRLW season expanding to a nine round competition in 2023, a quarter of the season would be a 2-3 match suspension.
The Broncos face the Titans next week in Brisbane.
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