NZ Warriors hooker Wayde Egan will miss Friday night's clash with the Melbourne Storm, after pleading guilty to a grade-two conduct charge.
Egan was cited by the NRL judiciary, after appearing to eye-gouge South Sydney fullback Latrell Mitchell during last Friday's 40-12 loss at Sydney's Bankwest Stadium.
Late in the game, the pair were involved in a tackle and Mitchell pursued Egan afterwards, obviously upset at his treatment. Replays showed the Warriors No.9 raking his fingers across the face of Mitchell, who was still visibly upset in the locker-room after the game.
Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett refused to comment on why he and Souths players were seen consoling Mitchell.
"No, I'm not going to tell you why," he told media afterwards. "It's got nothing to do with you, to be honest.
"The changeroom has always been a sacred place. Unfortunately, the game gave away a lot of our rights to those places, but in my mind and my headset, it's a place where we can go and be who we want to be, and not have to answer to anybody about it."
The Warriors have a ready-made replacement for Egan in their line-up to face Melbourne this week, with back-up Karl Lawton producing a strong performance off the bench against Souths.
But they are running out of fit players to field, with Lachlan Burr and David Fusitu'a - who have both missed games since the competition restart - suffering injuries to rejoin an already long casualty list this season.
And now the Gosford-based team must also bounce back from the sacking of coach Stephen Kearney after four big losses in six games.
The Storm fixture has been shifted from Melbourne's AAMI Stadium to Sydney's Jubilee Stadium, due to a spike in coronavirus cases through the state of Victoria.
Join us at 8pm Friday for live updates of the Warriors v Storm NRL clash.
