‘That’s baby stuff’: Jarome Luai backs Stephen Crichton as Kyle Flanagan fights to prove his innocence at the judiciary

Jarome Luai has defended former teammate Stephen Crichton’s decision to not give evidence at Tuesday night’s judiciary hearing, with the Panthers five-eighth describing biting as “baby stuff” following Saturday night’s alleged incident at Kogarah.

Dragons playmaker Kyle Flanagan has been referred directly to the judiciary for an alleged bite on Saturday, with cameras showing Crichton with blood on his nose following the second-half incident.

Crichton won’t be at the judiciary, just like Tyson Gamble wasn’t there last year to give evidence when he accused Jack Wighton of a bite during their finals clash in Newcastle.

It’s not part of the judicial code for players to have to provide evidence, with photographs and written statements from the game likely to be used.

“We’re just big on what happens on the field, stays on the field. If he’s complaining about it then you know something’s wrong,” Luai said of his former Penrith teammate.

“I think he needs a few stitches up there, but you can’t really see it which he’s probably cheering about because he’s one of the model figures in the game.

“With the amount of blood and looking on after the game with what was going on, it looked pretty sore, so we’ll see what happens.”

Biting is one of the most frowned-upon acts on a footy field, which is why Flanagan is looking at several weeks on the sidelines if the panel finds him guilty.

“You don’t want people biting you. That’s baby stuff,” Luai said.

“We’ll see what happens. We don’t have any room for that in our game. Hopefully, the right justification is made.”

There has been an argument that the Bulldogs skipper was at fault because he put his nose in Flanagan’s face, but Luai says most tackles are like that, with players taught to get in tight to slow down the ruck.

“I think that happens on a regular basis” he said.

“That happens in every second tackle because you want to be tight, so I’m sure that happens in many other instances but they’re not biting other players.”

Meanwhile, Luai is excited to see what young gun Blaize Talagi will do at the Panthers when he joins them in 2025 after signing a three-year deal.

He is one of the options to replace Luai in the halves when he moves to the Wests Tigers next year, but he faces stiff competition from Jack Cole, who has impressed when given a chance in the NRL side.

“He’s a mad talent, obviously really young but he’s got a bright future ahead of him. He’s Samoan, so got to get him over to the Samoan side,” Luai said.

“I don’t think it’s for me to say, but we’ve got some pretty good guys that can fill that role. Whatever he was signed to do, he will have some competition.

“I’ve played a bit with him (Cole) in the halves when Nathan was out. If I was to pair up with ‘Coley’, it would definitely be comfortable out there with his ability and what he brings to them.

“But competition is healthy, it’s good for a team. I had to go through that with Matt Burton back in the day. That brought the best out of both of us. Whatever happens next year, best to all the guys gunning for that spot, but it’s a while away.”