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BOTH parties could agree on one thing; there was no blood from the red mark on Jamie Simpson's arm. But that's not to say there won't be any more bad blood between them after Gold Coast fullback William Zillman was suspended for four matches after being found guilty of biting the South Sydney winger.
Gold Coast officials immediately foreshadowed an appeal after Zillman became the first player suspended for biting since Brad Morrin in 2007 - after both players had painted vastly different pictures of a post-match conversation that was the centre of it.
Zillman claimed that Simpson had told him ''I'm not going to say anything'' after the final whistle, while the winger said Zillman had told him: ''We'll see what happens.''
''I shook his hand and said 'Jamie, I'm really sorry, it was unintentional'. He took it really well,'' Zillman said. ''He just said, 'yeah mate, no worries, I'm not going to say anything'.''
The three-man panel of Bob Lindner, Mark Coyne and Sean Garlick were shown a video tape taken at half-time by Souths officials Shane Richardson and Tony Henderson, which showed a red mark on Simpson's right forearm. NRL prosecutor Peter Kite also submitted a statement by Simpson, as well as reports by referees Tony Archer and Gerard Sutton and touch judge Chris James, who was the closest official to the incident when it occurred.
The audio of the incident heard Simpson yell, ''F---, he bit me, he just bit me, he just bit me'' in James's direction, before later showing both on-field officials.
Zillman's defence counsel, Geoff Bellew, suggested the motion that Simpson described during the hour-long hearing last night, as ''very forceful clamping down'', would have resulted in a more serious injury.
''Why is it that you don't see something more tangible in the nature of the injury,'' Bellew said. ''Where on earth is the injury that might be consistent with it? There isn't one.''
Bellew also said Zillman's jaw did not move sufficiently to warrant a biting motion. ''It didn't happen and there was no biting action,'' he said.
Zillman said he was ''just trying to square my head up to stand up'' when he turned his head and his mouth came into contact with Simpson's arm.
''I went to the ground and I felt a second movement,'' Zillman said. ''Jamie had control of my head … it [the grip] was pretty strong. That's what we're taught. You don't go in half-hearted. Having control of my head, there wasn't too much I could do. He was able to turn me around and slow the play-the-ball down.
''His arm was in my mouth but … I didn't clamp down. The minute I realised what was going on, I turned away.''
Kite replied to that statement: ''It could be the minute you just realised what you'd done, you turned away.''
Under cross-examination, Simpson said he had ''put my hand on the ball to slow the play-the-ball down'' and denied he had a hold of Zillman's head or neck.
After the guilty finding, Kite tendered evidence of Morrin's bite on Parramatta's Timana Tahu, which resulted in an eight-match suspension for the Bulldogs player, as well as a photograph of the mark on Tahu's left arm.
Kite asked the panel to consider a suspension of between four and five matches, while Bellew argued that the offence ''paled into insignificance'' when compared to Morrin's.
''This was a complete aberration and completely out of character, and he's entitled to a benefit for that,'' Bellew said.
The suspension rules Zillman out until the second week of the finals. The Titans sit in third place on the competition table.
Gold Coast officials immediately foreshadowed an appeal after Zillman became the first player suspended for biting since Brad Morrin in 2007 - after both players had painted vastly different pictures of a post-match conversation that was the centre of it.
Zillman claimed that Simpson had told him ''I'm not going to say anything'' after the final whistle, while the winger said Zillman had told him: ''We'll see what happens.''
''I shook his hand and said 'Jamie, I'm really sorry, it was unintentional'. He took it really well,'' Zillman said. ''He just said, 'yeah mate, no worries, I'm not going to say anything'.''
The three-man panel of Bob Lindner, Mark Coyne and Sean Garlick were shown a video tape taken at half-time by Souths officials Shane Richardson and Tony Henderson, which showed a red mark on Simpson's right forearm. NRL prosecutor Peter Kite also submitted a statement by Simpson, as well as reports by referees Tony Archer and Gerard Sutton and touch judge Chris James, who was the closest official to the incident when it occurred.
The audio of the incident heard Simpson yell, ''F---, he bit me, he just bit me, he just bit me'' in James's direction, before later showing both on-field officials.
Zillman's defence counsel, Geoff Bellew, suggested the motion that Simpson described during the hour-long hearing last night, as ''very forceful clamping down'', would have resulted in a more serious injury.
''Why is it that you don't see something more tangible in the nature of the injury,'' Bellew said. ''Where on earth is the injury that might be consistent with it? There isn't one.''
Bellew also said Zillman's jaw did not move sufficiently to warrant a biting motion. ''It didn't happen and there was no biting action,'' he said.
Zillman said he was ''just trying to square my head up to stand up'' when he turned his head and his mouth came into contact with Simpson's arm.
''I went to the ground and I felt a second movement,'' Zillman said. ''Jamie had control of my head … it [the grip] was pretty strong. That's what we're taught. You don't go in half-hearted. Having control of my head, there wasn't too much I could do. He was able to turn me around and slow the play-the-ball down.
''His arm was in my mouth but … I didn't clamp down. The minute I realised what was going on, I turned away.''
Kite replied to that statement: ''It could be the minute you just realised what you'd done, you turned away.''
Under cross-examination, Simpson said he had ''put my hand on the ball to slow the play-the-ball down'' and denied he had a hold of Zillman's head or neck.
After the guilty finding, Kite tendered evidence of Morrin's bite on Parramatta's Timana Tahu, which resulted in an eight-match suspension for the Bulldogs player, as well as a photograph of the mark on Tahu's left arm.
Kite asked the panel to consider a suspension of between four and five matches, while Bellew argued that the offence ''paled into insignificance'' when compared to Morrin's.
''This was a complete aberration and completely out of character, and he's entitled to a benefit for that,'' Bellew said.
The suspension rules Zillman out until the second week of the finals. The Titans sit in third place on the competition table.
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