Jackson Hastings ‘shirt-fronted’ post-match by former teammate

They may be former teammates but there is zero love lost after Jackson Hastings and Tommy Talau squared off at full-time.

Security had to intervene. Photo: Fox Sports

There were spicy scenes at full-time after Wests Tigers stars confronted Newcastle Knights player Jackson Hastings after a spiteful 14-12 loss.

There were head injuries on both sides as tensions flared in a match which saw the Knights’ Jacob Saifiti sent off with 15 minutes remaining after a horror tackle on Jake Simpkin.

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The match almost went into extra time with Luke Brooks’ 45m field goal attempt missing just to the left, as the Knights claimed a famous win after losing captain and superstar Kalyn Ponga after 80 seconds.

But it was Hastings, a former Tiger, who had the last laugh as he led his side to victory against the club that forced him out at the end of last season in a trade for David Klemmer.

Hastings reportedly was moved on after being deemed “hard to handle” by the Tigers.

Just before halftime, the Tigers scored through Asu Kepaoa in a moment that saw centre Tommy Talau knocked out of the game.

Hastings made the tackle on Talau and looked to have caught him across the face with his arm.

It sparked a melee at the time and Talau was ruled out of the match.

Hastings said after the game he didn’t think he had clipped him and said “I’ll say sorry after this, it was a pure accident.”

But after walking away, Talua pushed Hastings in the chest before security intervened.

Then Klemmer came over, pushing Hastings as well before a Knights official took the halfback away.

Tommy Talau shirt-fronted his former teammate. Photo: Fox Sports

Dave Klemmer involved himself. Photo: Fox Sports

On Fox League, Michael Ennis said: “You don’t see that often, where a player shirt-fronts someone after a game, you don’t see that often.”

Greg Alexander questioned if Hastings was trying to apologise or take a swipe at the centre.

In the press conference, Tim Sheens said the high shot on Talau was clearly high as the centre had a broken nose.

Hastings spoke to SMH after the press conferences with the Knight revealing what happened.

“I just tried to do the right thing at the end of the game by going up to say sorry, in the heat of the battle he was still angry, which I fully appreciate,” Hasting said, per The Sydney Morning Herald.

“No one wants to get hit in the head and they ruled him out for the game too, so I am remorseful, there was no intent. I can see why he would be frustrated.

“I had no issue with Tommy’s reaction. I would be pretty filthy myself.”

The hit that wiped Talau out of the game. Photo: Fox Sports

After the game, Hastings spoke to Fox Sports’ Jake Duke and praised his coach and his teammates after the match and made a point not to criticise the Tigers.

“Full credit to these boys the Tigers, I’m friends with a lot of them, they’ve been through a lot of hard stuff, but just lucky to get the win,” he said.

“I’m proud of a lot of them boys on that side too but I’m really proud of our team and what we’ve done today.”

Asked about the emotion playing against the Tigers after a big lead up with comments from Tigers coach Tim Sheens, Hastings said: “He can talk.

“It’s not up to me to talk. I know the truth behind what happened, he knows the truth behind what happened and it is what it is. It’s not up to me to talk in the media, it’s my job to come out here and play football.

“I’ve said all along, I’ve got nothing but respect for the Tigers, their fans, the players — they gave me a chance. They brought me back from England and gave me a chance in the NRL. I’m not here to badmouth no one. I never will. If they want to talk, they can talk but I’m just here to play football.”

But a few mentions of Michael Maguire made his distaste of Wests coach Tim Sheens clear to the Fox League panel, calling it a “backhander”.

Originally published as Jackson Hastings ‘shirt-fronted’ post-match by former teammate