We love the mighty Canberra Raiders
League icon Phil Gould has questioned why Tyson Gamble wasn't required to be at Jack Wighton's judiciary hearing after accusing the Raiders star of biting him.
Wighton fronted the judiciary on Tuesday night and was handed a three-match suspension in a fiery hearing, but Gamble was nowhere to be seen.
Speaking on Wide World of Sports' Six Tackles With Gus podcast, Gould said the ban handed down to Wighton "seems light", but questioned where Gamble was.
Jack Wighton is set to miss next year's NRL season opener in Las Vegas after Mal Meninga put a line through allowing the South Sydney recruit to serve a suspension in the Test arena.
The outgoing Canberra Raiders star was hit with a three-game ban for biting Newcastle five-eighth Tyson Gamble during a pulsating elimination final on Sunday.
The Rabbitohs are hoping to shave one game off the ban by having next year's NRL All Stars match included in the suspension - but either way, Wighton will miss the season opener.
Why Newcastle is ready to once again go to hell and back to keep its NRL finals run alive
Less than week after going to hell and back and balancing on the raggedy edge separating an epic, club-defining victory from a soul-crushing defeat, Newcastle will have to saddle up and do it all again.
The Knights' 30-28 extra-time victory over the Raiders on Sunday was less of a football match and more of a life experience. It was the kind of thing that doesn't have winners, just survivors.
If the Novocastrians had cruised to the easy victory many suspected would be coming their way, they'd likely be even money to beat the Warriors on Saturday night, if not favourites.
But now, battered and bruised and missing a couple of stars, it is Newcastle's turn to dig deep and defy the odds.