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A former bobsleigh athlete is facing the judiciary after her very first game in the NRLW, having been sent off for an alleged bite on Saturday night.
Ashleigh Werner was on debut for the Brisbane Broncos in the opening-round clash against the Sydney Roosters on the Sunshine Coast, but her maiden appearance turned into a miserable one, in the 36-18 defeat.
Winger Werner – a former rugby sevens player, who then tried her hand at bobsledding and narrowly missed selection for Australia’s 2022 Winter Olympics team – was given her marching orders in the 54th minute by referee Wyatt Raymond.
In possession of the ball with her side hot on attack and down 30-18, Werner was tackled near the sideline and while Raymond initially blew a penalty for the Roosters slowing the play-the-ball, things quickly took a turn after their winger, Jayme Fressard, complained of a potential bite.
Replays showed Werner’s mouth in contact with the arm of Fressard, who immediately pulled it away with a look of disgust and could be seen shouting at the referee and touch judge, and pointing to her arm.
SKY SPORT
Ashleigh Werner gets her marching orders in the Broncos’ NRLW match against the Roosters on Saturday night.
After several looks from The Bunker, Werner’s fate was sealed, the 30-year-old ordered off the park and her side forced to play with 12 for the remainder of the match.
Nine commentator and former NRLW star Allana Ferguson felt the send-off was a fair decision.
“It’s a hard one, because she [Fressard] had her arm over her mouth, for an extended period of time,” she said on the match coverage.
“But, I mean, that shot there [on the slow-motion replay] speaks volumes.”
Fellow commentator Phil Gould, speaking post-game, felt Fressard’s reaction may have contributed to the send-off, though wasn’t critical of the decision.
“[Werner] has her mouthguard in, so I’m not sure how much it would have hurt,” he said.
SKY SPORT
Ashleigh Werner faces the judiciary after her NRLW debut ended in controversial fashion, sent off for an alleged bite.
“But if she’s taken a nip on the arm, that’s something that has to be discouraged, and it’s one of the things that footballers do hate. They hate [eye] gouging and they hate biting.”
Broncos coach Scott Prince defended Werner, noting that it may have felt like something it was not.
“From the vision, it doesn’t look that good, but any time an arm or a hand is around someone’s head and in contact with the teeth, knowing from experience, it actually feels like someone is maybe actually biting you,” he said.
“It is a contact game, and any time you hit the mouth you feel like you’ve been bitten. We’ll have to have a look and find out what the go is in terms of what the accusation is from Fressard.”
Roosters coach John Strange, meanwhile, had quite the opposite view.
Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images
Roosters coach John Strange was damning of Ashleigh Werner’s actions.
“Frezzy’s arm has got a few teeth marks in it… so I’m not sure if the mouthguard is shaped like teeth. There’s a fair bit of blood.
“She’s not too happy, but we’ll leave that up to the judiciary to deal with that. It’s unfortunate that happened in the game, but Frezzy is okay.”
Indeed, Werner’s fate will now be decided by the match review committee, who are likely to charge her on Sunday.
In the 2020 NRL season Kevin Proctor was handed a four-game for biting, though other recent previous biting bans had ranged from eight to 12 weeks.
However, the NRLW is a much shorter competition, and last year St George Illawarra’s Madison Bartlett escaped with just a one-match suspension.
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