Lambton Jaffas will contest the red card given to Sam Webb as they scramble to assemble a squad for the match with New Lambton on Friday night at No.2 Sportsground.
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The 2022 NPL NNSW champions have endured a nightmare start to the season, losing Luke Remington to a career-threatening leg injury in their abandoned first-round game against Maitland then having two players sent off in a 3-0 loss at Weston on Saturday night.
Webb, one of several recruits to follow coach David Tanchevski from Cooks Hill, was given a straight red in the 81st minute for coming third man in following a late hit from Connor Heydon on Jaffas defender Dylan Newbold.
Heydon was also red carded and Jaffa Nathan Verity copped a second yellow. Heydon and Verity were given minimum one-match bans on Tuesday, but the Jaffas were taking Webb's red card to the Obvious Error Panel, which was to hear the case on Wednesday night.
The incident bears similarities to Maitland's successful appeal of Zach Thomas's red card from last year's grand final loss to Jaffas.
Thomas was marched for his actions when third man in. During his appeal, footage showed he made no contact with the player's head or face, with only light contact to his chest with his hand. There was also no evidence of stomping, which was part of those allegations.
In footage of Saturday's incident, Webb appears to make only similar jersey grabs and pushes on Heydon.
Jaffas coach David Tanchevski was frustrated with the calls against Verity and Webb given several Weston players also became involved in the fracas and received no cards.
"It was pretty disappointing, especially when we were already down eight starters, so to lose another two hurts," Tanchevski said.
This week, Jaffas will still likely be without Matt Hoole and Scott Pettit, who are working back to fitness from major injuries, Riley McNaughton (appendix), Reece Papas and Michael Kantarovski (hamstring).
On a positive note, grand final match-winner Kale Bradbery should be fit to start after coming off the bench last week, while Josh Benson (suspension) is back.
Weston were 3-0 up when the red cards came on Saturday night. Tanchevski said the Bears deserved the win and his side paid the price for three defensive lapses.
"At half-time, I thought we were right in the game," he said. "We had three really good chances in the first half but their keeper made three world-class saves.
"We had to be next to score, but they took their chances and we didn't, then that carry-on at the end meant it was over."
He said Weston's Japanese addition, Yuta Konagaya, "was quality and caused us all sorts of problems".
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