The halfback expressed surprise that the incident had been put on report at all and said that he was simply trying to get out of the way of the enforcer.
“I’m not too sure what happened,” said Moses. “I kicked the ball and got hit. I don’t know what happened. I saw him, it’s a bit hard to miss him. There was a big man charging at me so. I had to get rid of the ball.”
Craig Bellamy took aim at the Match Review Committee for targeting Asofa-Solomona after the forward was put on report for the incident, which he felt was harsh.
Bellamy was reacting to the media furore that has surrounded Asofa-Solomona’s rap sheet following last week’s run in with Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, where the Kiwi was cited and fined but not banned.
“It’s all come because of this week,” said the coach. “If they (the Match Review Committee) thought that was the case, why didn’t they do it halfway through the season? Why react now because of one story that turned into a story of three or four days on the one bloke?”
“There’s a lot of other instances that are as bad as Nelson’s, but we decided to pick on Nelson this week so he was the punching bag.
“If they want to change the rules because of that, at the end of the day that’s their decision, it’s not my decision. If they want to change the rules, change the rules. It’s not my concern because I can’t control that.
“Just with that incident tonight, I think it was a bit late so that’s fair but I don’t think too many guys get on report for being that late. He was nowhere near the head. His arms were around his waist.”
(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
The Storm coach was happy to concede that it had been a penalty, but wondered aloud about the rap that his enforcer now carries around with him.
“It was a touch late, but it certainly wasn’t high,” he said. “His arms were around his waist. I’m not quite sure if the on report was because of his reputation.
“There was nothing around his head. It could have been late but there wasn’t much more to it.”
Moses was in the thick of the action. He was smashed early on by Justin Olam – legally – and then himself put a huge shot on Kenny Bromwich.
“He got me well, I didn’t see it coming.,” laughed the halfback of Olam’s tackle. “He got me an absolute beaut. He’s been doing that to a fair few people so that makes me feel a whole lot better.”
Clint Gutherson had joked in the press conference that the Eels would never hear the end of Moses after the diminutive halfback laid out the Storm forward.
“I don’t remember it happening!” said the Lebanon international. “I was just making the tackle. I don’t think there’ll be carry on, maybe when we watch the replay at training!”
