The inquest into the biting allegation against Canterbury’s James Graham could drag on all week after the Bulldogs officially requested his NRL judiciary hearing be delayed.
Graham was due to face the music on Wednesday night after being referred straight to the judiciary for an alleged bite on Melbourne fullback Billy Slater.
But with the Bulldogs holding their club presentation on Wednesday night, the minor premiers officially requested on Monday to have the date moved to later in the week.
Graham is in danger of copping a hefty suspension which could rule him out of the start of next season.
Any suspension of greater than two weeks would rule him out of England’s two end-of-season Tests against Wales and France, neither of which could be counted towards his NRL ban.
The England squad will be named on Tuesday, but regardless of Graham’s selection, he will not be able to serve any weeks unless the length of his ban is less than the number of Tests to be played.
Graham’s dangerous conduct charge is the most serious to come out of a spiteful 25th-minute melee which led to three players being charged for fighting.
Melbourne pair Sisa Waqa and Todd Lowrie both face a week on the sidelines, which would be served in next year’s trial matches, as does Josh Reynolds – although an early guilty plea would see the Canterbury five-eighth escape a suspension.
The brawl was sparked when Slater slid into Sam Perrett in an attempt to stop the Bulldogs winger from scoring a try.
Dogs centre Krisnan Inu took exception to the slide and pushed Slater, who reacted angrily and was restrained by Bulldogs bench player David Stagg.
Inu later accepted responsibility for the escalation of the incident.
“I was probably the instigator there (by pushing Slater), it was just the hype in the moment,” Inu said.
“Every time one of our boys dives in the corner there’s always got to be somebody rolling over the top and I just wasn’t taking it this time.”
Players then broke off into separate fights with Waqa and Reynolds squaring off while Graham lunged at Slater.
Replays on the big screen at ANZ Stadium showed Graham baring his teeth and moving in towards Slater’s left ear.
The Queensland and Australia fullback then made a complaint to referee Tony Archer, who acknowledged there was blood around the ear.
Slater again declined to comment on the case at the Storm’s welcome home celebrations as the matter is still before the judiciary.
The past two NRL players banned for biting served a combined 12 weeks.
Gold Coast’s Will Zillman copped four weeks for biting South Sydney’s Jamie Simpson in 2009, while Brad Morrin was suspended for eight weeks for trying to take a chunk out of Parramatta’s Timana Tahu.
