Greg Bird suspended for entire Origin series

Gold Coast Titans back rower Greg Bird has been suspended for eight games by the NRL judiciary, following a charge of a grade two dangerous throw in the weekend Test between Australia and New Zealand.

Bird was accused of making the tackle on Kiwi winger Jason Nightingale, and he will not now be back in action until round 19 of the NRL.

“We’re very disappointed in the outcome,” Titans coach Neil Henry said.

“We thought we mounted a strong case for a downgrade from a grade two to a grade one and we thought we had evidence to prove that. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case with the judiciary.

“As a club we’re very disappointed to lose the services of Greg for an extended period of time now, but we accept we had a fair hearing in there.”

Bird, a New South Wales representative, will now miss the whole of the State of Origin series. He refused to offer any comment to reporters in Australia once the verdict had been confirmed.