ADAM LUCIUS and JASON AVEDISSIAN
29jun05
MANLY will rectify Brent Kite's running style after the former representative prop narrowly escaped a knee lifting charge follow ing his side's loss to the Bulldogs.
The match review committee watched two incidents from the game before deciding Kite had no case to answer.
The Sea Eagles front-rower served a one-match suspension earlier this month for knee lifting.
As our picture from Sunday's match against the Dogs shows, he was lucky to escape further punishment.
The Sharks' Jason Stevens was outed for a match for an almost identical incident in a round 12 match against Parramatta.
And Roosters forward Adrian Morley faces a knee lifting charge at the judiciary tonight following Friday night's win over the Eels.
Cronulla coach Stuart Raper last night labelled Kite's knee lift on the Bulldogs' Tony Grimaldi worse than the Stevens incident.
Manly will now take steps to alter Kite's running style, fearing he will attract further scrutiny in the countdown to the finals.
``It's good nothing came of it (this time) but he's got into a bit of a habit of lifting the knee,'' coach Des Hasler conceded.
``It's something he's probably not aware of himself.
``We'll have to get to him and have a chat about it. It is a concern.''
Kite admitted he had a problem. confessing: ``Someone told me the shot in the paper (top left) looked pretty bad.
``It's something that's slowly crept into my game and I'll have to work on it.
``I'm not really conscious I'm doing it but obviously there is a problem, particularly at impact. I had a problem with it a few weeks ago and it's something that needs to be rectified.''
Raper said he was confused over the knee lifting rule and called for clarification from the NRL.
``They didn't do anything about (Kite) because he (Grimaldi) didn't get knocked out,'' Raper said.
``I can't get any consistency with that rule and its interpretation.
``Whether he (Kite) should have done time or not I don't know but there's no consist ency.''
NRL match review chairman Greg McCallum agreed Kite needed to work on his style.
``You can't go into tackles with your knee lifted,'' the former referee said.
``The danger of injuries is so great.''
* Manly centre Steve Matai has been named in the NSW Residents side to meet Queensland Residents in the curtain-raiser to next Wednesday's State of Origin decider at Suncorp Stadium.
The Kiwi-born Matai is one of six players named on an extended Manly bench for Friday night's meeting with Wests Tigers.
29jun05
MANLY will rectify Brent Kite's running style after the former representative prop narrowly escaped a knee lifting charge follow ing his side's loss to the Bulldogs.
The match review committee watched two incidents from the game before deciding Kite had no case to answer.
The Sea Eagles front-rower served a one-match suspension earlier this month for knee lifting.
As our picture from Sunday's match against the Dogs shows, he was lucky to escape further punishment.
The Sharks' Jason Stevens was outed for a match for an almost identical incident in a round 12 match against Parramatta.
And Roosters forward Adrian Morley faces a knee lifting charge at the judiciary tonight following Friday night's win over the Eels.
Cronulla coach Stuart Raper last night labelled Kite's knee lift on the Bulldogs' Tony Grimaldi worse than the Stevens incident.
Manly will now take steps to alter Kite's running style, fearing he will attract further scrutiny in the countdown to the finals.
``It's good nothing came of it (this time) but he's got into a bit of a habit of lifting the knee,'' coach Des Hasler conceded.
``It's something he's probably not aware of himself.
``We'll have to get to him and have a chat about it. It is a concern.''
Kite admitted he had a problem. confessing: ``Someone told me the shot in the paper (top left) looked pretty bad.
``It's something that's slowly crept into my game and I'll have to work on it.
``I'm not really conscious I'm doing it but obviously there is a problem, particularly at impact. I had a problem with it a few weeks ago and it's something that needs to be rectified.''
Raper said he was confused over the knee lifting rule and called for clarification from the NRL.
``They didn't do anything about (Kite) because he (Grimaldi) didn't get knocked out,'' Raper said.
``I can't get any consistency with that rule and its interpretation.
``Whether he (Kite) should have done time or not I don't know but there's no consist ency.''
NRL match review chairman Greg McCallum agreed Kite needed to work on his style.
``You can't go into tackles with your knee lifted,'' the former referee said.
``The danger of injuries is so great.''
* Manly centre Steve Matai has been named in the NSW Residents side to meet Queensland Residents in the curtain-raiser to next Wednesday's State of Origin decider at Suncorp Stadium.
The Kiwi-born Matai is one of six players named on an extended Manly bench for Friday night's meeting with Wests Tigers.
