EXCLUSIVE | Billy Slater backs Kevin Proctor amid biting allegations
Rugby league legend Billy Slater has weighed in on the debate over whether Titans captain Kevin Proctor did or did not bite Sharks halfback Shaun Johnson.
Proctor will face the NRL judiciary tomorrow, but Billy has cast serious doubt on a guilty verdict.
“Looking at all the vision, I don’t see him clamp down,” he told Mark Levy.
“I don’t see a biting motion.”
Instead, he suggested the mouth-to-arm contact is simply a consequence of Johnson’s tactic.
Billy himself was bitten in 2012 by then-Bulldogs prop James Graham, and noted the inconsistency of Johnson’s reaction.
“He knew the seriousness of the allegation, and he sort of backpedaled pretty quick.”
Click PLAY below to hear Billy’s comments in full
Former NRL judiciary chairman Paul Conlon told Mark and Billy it likely won’t be a simple case.
“The ones that are most clear-cut … are where the biter’s face is away from the body of the person being bitten, and then he moves his head and neck towards that body part.
“Whenever you have a defender’s … forearm around the face, and indeed mouth of the tackled player, they are the cases which are certainly far more difficult.”
Click PLAY below to hear the full interview
Image: Fox Sports