‘Is this April Fools?’: Radley can’t believe his luck after avoiding charge

The match review committee has ruled Victor Radley’s contentious tackle on Brisbane’s Pat Carrigan was a case of accidental head contact.

Roosters hitman Radley was live on air at Fox Sports on Sunday when told he had not been charged for several incidents during the win over the Broncos the night before.

“Really? Is this April Fools?” Radley replied.

“Happy days. I thought for sure something was coming.

“That’s actually great news. What a place to be told that.

“I was going to keep this suit for the judiciary, but I don’t need it any more. I might keep it for the races.”

Radley was put on report three times, including what was initially believed to be a hip-drop tackle on Josiah Karapani, who left the field with an ankle injury. A minute later, he was penalised for a high shot on Ben Talty.

His Carrigan hit was not mentioned at all, but had plenty of fans asking on Sunday how it was not sanctioned on the night, only to then be overlooked by the match review committee.

Sources with knowledge of the situation not authorised to speak publicly confirmed the match review committee believed the incident was accidental. Carrigan was not injured in the tackle.

Herald colleague Peter FitzSimons posted on X about the tackle: “You can smash another bloke on the chin with your head in the #NRL, and stay on the field?? I confess surprise and alarm. If that’s not a send-off, what DOES it take?”

Radley has a reputation for being one of the toughest defenders in the game, but he has also featured regularly on the match review committee’s charge sheets. He avoided being charged for a hip-drop tackle on Karapani because most of his body weight landed on the ground, not the winger’s legs.

The only player charged from the 38-24 Roosters’ victory was Broncos centre Kotoni Staggs, who faces a two-match ban for elbowing Hugo Savala in the back of the head. Should he take the early plea, Staggs will not play again before Laurie Daley picks his squad for Origin I.

There were frightening scenes overnight with the Broncos confirming Deine Mariner underwent surgery in a Sydney hospital after he suffered an acute compartment syndrome injury to the right thigh.

Brien Sweeney, who is known as NRL Physio on social media, said of the Mariner injury: “A cork is a big blow to the muscle, it causes bleeding. Usually that bleeding is relatively minor and it dissipates quite well.

“If the bleeding is bad enough, it can build up inside the fascia, which is like the sausage skin around the outside of the muscle. It doesn’t expand that much. Then you get this pressure-cooker situation where the bleeding can actually crush the nerves and blood vessels in the area.

“[As for the surgery] the surgeon has to go in and pop the hood of the pressure cooker, and the way to do that is cut it open.

“If that doesn’t happen quickly, you can literally have muscle tissue dying within hours. It is something more commonly seen after brutal low leg fractures.”