Grant, who appeared at the judiciary via video link, acknowledged that contact had been made with Atkinson, but said he was making every attempt to minimise the danger of the contact.

He added that Sharks lock Cameron McInnes was acting as a “sleeper” – a player in an illegal position – that was “effectively blocking the angle that the defensive team has to get to the kicker”.

Alongside Melbourne’s general manager of football, Frank Ponissi, Grant explained he couldn’t “completely stop on a dime when I’m travelling at that speed”, and that he tried to deviate to the left to avoid making contact with Atkinson.

Grant’s representative Nick Ghabar said the contact on Atkinson was “mild, glancing and minor”.

NRL counsel Lachlan Gyles tried to argue that it wasn’t about whether the contact made was minimal, it was about whether the incident gave “rise to an unacceptable risk of injury”, and that Grant’s experience as a Queensland and Australian representative meant he was skilled enough to avoid contact if he wanted to.

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“Player Grant could have avoided this contact by changing his line and if he had taken appropriate care by moving to the left, there would have not been contact at all,” he said.

However, Ghabar’s argument that “player Grant has effectively pulled up on his sprint” and that “by the time player Atkinson is in his kicking motion, player Grant is trying to wash speed off” proved to be the more convincing argument.

with AAP

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