Sea Eagles coach Anthony Seibold and captain Daly Cherry-Evans both suspect that “something happened” to provoke Luke Brooks’ heated altercation with Panthers halfback Jarome Luai.
The incident occurred after Luai was tackled by teammate Ben Trbojevic, leading to Brooks and Luai engaging in an intense pushing match while Penrith scored during their scuffle.
When questioned about the incident during the post-match press conference, Seibold expressed confidence that some form of foul play was involved in the tackle.
“Brooks is not a renowned scrapper, so obviously something happened,” Seibold remarked.
Cherry-Evans then interjected, explaining, “I think he saw something there, I think he was looking after his teammates. So you can obviously read into it that you thought he might have got baited, but he obviously saw something there.”
He continued, “He was just sticking up for his teammates, I like what he did there. I don’t think he gave away a try; I think there was something there.”
Following the try being awarded, both Cherry-Evans and Brooks confronted referee Gerard Sutton as they headed to the kick-off. Sutton cautioned the players against further dissent, and the situation did not escalate. The Panthers ultimately secured a 32-22 victory.
When asked if Penrith would have scored if Brooks had been in the defensive line, Cherry-Evans responded with a smile, “I’m not sure.”
Seibold added, “We had enough changes, obviously something happened on the floor with Ben Trbojevic, so he’s sticking up for his teammates. If you really dig down a little bit deeper and look at what happened, Brooksy is not a fighter and has been a really fair player for a long time. But ultimately, they scored, so they were too smart for us.”