Gorden Tallis lashes out as Roosters rocked by massive Jared Waerea-Hargreaves blow

Maroons legend Gorden Tallis has blasted the punishment handed to Roosters enforcer Jared Waerea Hargreaves after the forward was slapped with a four-match ban. In his milestone 307th NRL match taking place against the Dragons last weekend, Waerea-Hargreaves was handed 10 minutes on the sideline for collecting Max Feagai high with his shoulder.

Waerea-Hargreaves and the Roosters were left stunned when he was marched from the field. The milestone man was slapped with a grade two charge, which was his third of the year. The forward was facing a three game ban without appealing the charge.

The Roosters attempted to get the ban downgraded to a grade one charge, which would have resulted in a $3,000 fine. The Roosters failed on Tuesday night to reduce the ban and Waerea-Hargreaves will now sit out four NRL games.

However, the fallout from the tackle has angered Broncos legend Tallis. The former Maroons enforcer was left baffled Waerea-Hargreaves was facing a number of weeks out when the tackle did not appear to injure Feagai during the game. He argued aggressive players could be ruled out of the game soon if they cop long bans for tackles that slightly wrong.

“I know he raced out, I know it’s Jarred but the player bounces straight back up. Maybe a fine? Is that that bad?” Tallis asked on Fox Sports' NRL 360. on Tuesday night. And Paul Crawley agreed if Waerea-Hargreaves was ruled out for a number of weeks it would impact the spectacle of the NRL.

“Even if there’s loading, if that tackle rubs a front rower out for three to four weeks, that’s where I have the issue,” Crawley added. “Whatever the system is that comes up with this as a three to four week suspension there’s a problem.”

Gorden Tallis blasts NRL over harsh bans

Braith Anasta agreed the Roosters forward would be unfortunate to cop a ban for the tackle. However, David Riccio did not agree with the panel and claimed Waerea-Hargreaves was getting hit with the longer ban because of his previous charges across the season.

“He’s being penalised for his history, that’s the point of it,” Riccio added. “That’s the judicial process at this point in time, If he had a clean record it wouldn’t be three to four weeks.”

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Although Tallis claimed the bans were taking away from the NRL product with fans wanting to see the best players take to the field. “You want those players in the game, you can’t rub them out,” Tallis added. “We need him playing 307 games, blood coming out of their head, doing that. Every now and then they get it wrong.”

Waerea-Hargreaves became the most capped Roosters player of all-time on the weekend with his team running away with a 42-12 win against the Dragons. However, Waerea-Hargreaves won't return to the NRL until round 26 with the Roosters receiving two byes in the coming weeks.