Raiders winger Jordan Rapana faces nervous wait after ‘absolutely brutal’ shoulder charge

Jordan Rapana may have avoided serious punishment on the field but the Raiders winger has a nervous wait after being penalised for a shoulder charge on Scott Drinkwater.

The incident took place in the 27th minute of Saturday night’s game between North Queensland and Canberra as Drinkwater returned a Raiders kick deep inside his own half.

The Cowboys fullback was then met by Rapana, who appeared to make little attempt to wrap his arms around Drinkwater.

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Drinkwater was sent flying but Rapana was not finished there, later coming in with what appeared to be a swinging arm as he completed the tackle.

“Scott Drinkwater is slammed by Rapana,” Andrew Voss said in commentary for Fox League.

“This is brutal, absolutely brutal. You be the judge at home. I think Houston, we have a problem.

“Are we happy with that? It’s not a shoulder side-on but I don’t think there was much of an attempt to wrap the arm around.”

While Rapana was only penalised for the incident, he could find himself in hot water with the match review committee.

“He could be in a bit of trouble,” Mal Meninga said on Fox League, noting Rapana’s failure to wrap his arms around Drinkwater in the tackle.

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A grade one shoulder charge carries a fine, regardless of whether Rapana was to take the early guilty plea or fight it. A grade two charge, however, carries a two or three-game ban.

And should Rapana’s shoulder charge be deemed a grade three offence, he would be looking at between three and four matches on the sidelines.

It was not the first time Rapana had found himself under the scrutiny of the match review committee.

Rapana was sent to the sin bin in Canberra’s trial game against the Wests Tigers after a high shot on Adam Doueihi, later charged with a grade one careless high tackle.

Rapana though was able to avoid any time on the sidelines by taking the early plea, which saw him fined $3,000.

Raiders fullback headache continues | 00:45