Jared Waerea-Hargreaves hit with ban by NRL as Roosters enforcer set to be sidelined again

Roosters forward Jared Waerea-Hargreaves will miss the final two games of the NRL regular season after copping a suspension from the match review committee on Monday. NRL fans let rip at Waerea-Hargreaves after the Roosters enforcer was sent to the sin-bin only minutes into the contest against the Titans on Sunday.

Waerea-Hargreaves was returning from a four-game suspension for the Roosters, but will now be sidelined once again. His hit on Sam Verrills saw him hit with Grade 2 careless high tackle charge, and because of his rap sheet he's facing a minimum of two games out.

If the Kiwi international challenges the charge and fails at the judiciary, he will miss three games and the first week of the NRL finals. As it stands, he'll likely take an early guilty plea and return in time for the playoffs.

The Stephen Crichton drama was once again brought into the spotlight in the wake of Waerea-Hargreaves' hit. The Bunker endured a nightmare weekend with a number of controversial calls prompting anger from fans. Bulldogs centre Crichton managed to escape a sin-bin on Friday night against the Warriors, despite similar tackles from Haumole Olakau’atu and Cameron Murray prompting 10 minutes in the bin this weekend.

"Oh boy and returning from suspension...and in the sin-bin," Warren Smith said in commentary. While there can be little argument Waerea-Hargreaves should have been sent from the field, many felt he was lucky to be coming back on. Others felt it was a similar incident to Crichton's on Friday night with the Bulldogs centre avoiding a sin-bin.

Fans have complained about the lack of consistency from game-to-game in recent weeks and the debate was reignited again after Waerea-Hargreaves was given 10 minutes on the sideline. Although fans certainly didn't hold back on the Roosters prop for his latest incident.

NRL rocked by more drama over refereeing calls

The weekend's drama started when Bulldogs centre Crichton stayed on the field for a high-tackle on Roger Tuivasa-Sheck. With the Warriors leading 18-16 in the 46th minute, Crichton's shoulder collided with Tuivasa-Sheck's head.

The State of Origin star centre didn't appear to use his arms in the tackle as Tuivasa-Sheck was rocked when he tried to play the ball. Tuivasa-Sheck then stumbled back and collapsed having clearly been concussed from the incident.

Manly copped two sin-bin penalties on Thursday night for head-high tackles. This cost them the game against the Wests Tigers. And viewers were adamant Crichton would also be marched for at least 10 minutes in the bin after the Bunker reviewed the tackle.

However, the Bunker deemed their were mitigating circumstances and the Warriors would only receive a penalty. Since Crichton's escaping a sin-bin, a number of players have been sent to the sin-bin for similar tackles throughout round 25.

Sharks and the Roosters push for top four

The Panthers are also in slight danger of finishing in fourth position after losing to the Raiders on Saturday. The Roosters have the best for-and-against of the teams in the top four and are in the box seat to finish second.

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Penrith have two favourable games to finish the season when the host the Rabbitohs before facing the Titans in the last round. Although they will need the Roosters to slip up to finish second. Finishing third or fourth would be a blow for the reigning champions considering they would miss out on a home first up finals round at BlueBet Stadium.