Leading with the head’: Dylan Napa on report for tackle in Bulldogs’ loss to Wests Tigers
Dylan Napa speaks to Matt Cecchin after being placed on report
Bulldogs prop Dylan Napa faces an anxious wait at the judiciary after he was placed on report for “leading with the head”
against the Tigers.
Canterbury were camped out on their own line when Sam McIntyre took a drive towards the line.
When he did he was met by English lock Luke Thompson and Napa. Instead of making contact with his shoulder first, the Bulldogs prop appeared to make head-on-head contact with McIntyre.
The Tigers forward got up and played on as his side scored through Luke Garner shortly later.
But after the Tigers took their shot at goal, referee Matt Cecchin pulled Napa and Dogs captain Josh Jackson to one side.
“You’re on report. You’re leading with the head mate.”
As Greg Alexander stated in Fox League’s call, Napa has been punished in the past for leading with the head.
“There is some history there up at Suncorp Stadium he’s done some damage before,” said Fox League’s Andrew Voss. “He’s now on report and he says shoulder, but Cecchin and maybe a tip from the bunker, they’ve found him leading with the head.”
While playing for the Roosters against the Broncos in Brisbane in 2018,
Napa escaped sanction for a similar action which left Korbin Sims with a broken jaw.
He was then hit with a three-game ban following on from the same fixture a few months later when
then-Broncos hooker Andrew McCullough.