Jamie Soward is pleased that Josh Jackson has been cleared to play State of Origin III, after the Canterbury forward's tackle on the Penrith five-eighth was downgraded at the NRL judiciary on Wednesday night.
Soward revealed on Thursday that Jackson apologised to him after the game for the dangerous throw and the former NSW pivot said he has moved on from the controversial incident despite being "dumped on his head".
"It wasn't Josh's fault, it was just a technique," Soward said.
"He's got good technique and just got put in the wrong position. I'm sure he didn't mean to do that. That's probably what the judiciary felt as well. They looked at it like that. He said sorry after the game and as far as I'm concerned, it was one of those tackles that went wrong and thankfully for both of us - for him for Origin, for me, I didn't get hurt."
"As a New South Welshmen I didn't want to see him miss an Origin but it was a dangerous tackle at the end of the day. The consistency of what is a dangerous tackle, it was probably deserved, there's no 10 in the bin any more."
However Soward was equivocal as to whether the NRL's supposed crackdown on lifting tackles was working, and whether enough was being done for player safety.
"I don't know what I'm supposed to do when I get picked up and put on my head, but that's just the way it happened," Soward said.
"You don't like to see that. Most of the players have been really controlled. It was just one of those tackles that got out of hand. We've moved on from that."
Sydney Roosters prop Sam Moa said there was widespread confusion amongst players about the judiciary process.
Moa was suspended last week for one match for making contact with a referee in the Roosters' win over the Warriors two weeks ago, the same punishment meted out to Jackson, who originally faced a three-game ban.
"That's where the confusion comes in. I get a game for making a friendly contact with the referee and something like the Josh Jackson tackle gets a week also," Moa said.
