Newcastle Knight centre Dane Gagai sin binned after ‘heated’ incident with referee

Knight star Dane Gagai was sent to the sin bin during Friday’s loss to the Sydney Roosters after “swearing” at the referee.

Dane Gagai is sent to the sin bin.

Newcastle Knights centre Dane Gagai was sent to the sin bin during Friday evening’s loss to the Sydney Roosters at McDonald Jones Stadium after “swearing” at the match official.

In the 60th minute of the Round 19 clash in Newcastle, referee Peter Gough stopped play and told Gagai to have a 10-minute stint on the sidelines.

Knights hooker Jayden Brailey and backrower Tyson Frizell pleaded with Gough to no avail.

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“That‘s the second time this set,” Gough was heard saying.

“He‘s spraying me, swearing at me from well over there.

“I can‘t tolerate that.”

According to former New South Wales representative Michael Ennis, Gagai’s sin bin came after he made contact with Roosters enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves.

“You could hear some frustration in the previous set, plenty of language coming through the SFX mics,” Ennis said on Fox League’s coverage.

“That time it was Dane Gagai, blowing up at Jared Warea-Hargreaves … he has clearly given the referee a mouthful and now things starting to get heated here.”

Last week, Melbourne Storm forward Brandon Smith was handed a three-game ban after reportedly calling referee Adam Gee a “cheating bastard” during a 28-6 loss to the Cronulla Sharks.

Although it unclear what Gagai said to the referee, the 31-year-old could be at risk of copping a similar punishment.

“It was certainly for some dissent that was aimed at referee Peter Gogh,” Fox League reporter James Hooper explained.

“We are not sure what language was used, but we saw Brandon Smith go down a similar round the other week at Shark Park, he obviously ended up getting a three-week suspension.

“We will wait to find out the exact details of what has been said, but certainly for Gagai it was a dissent-related sin bin.”

Penrith Panthers legend Greg Alexander elaborated: “Well I don’t know what he said … but when you pull up play halfway through a tackle, something has happened.

“We didn’t pick-up what was said but I am sure we will find out.”

Dane Gagai of the Knights. Photo by Matt King/Getty Images

Gagai was also sin binned during game three of this year’s State of Origin series after throwing punches at Blues rival Matt Burton.

The Queenslander avoided suspension, however, instead copping a fine worth 23 per cent of their match fee.

The Knights ultimately suffered a 42-12 defeat on Friday, with coach Adam O’Brien conceding in the post-match press conference that the club’s finals chances were over.

“It feels like I am redoing this press conference on loop at the moment for home games,” he said.

“We have got a lot of work to do to fix where we are at as a group. It is going to take a lot of work and it is going to take a lot of time unfortunately.

“It’s been a tough s***ty season.

“Just because the finals are out of contention, I don’t want to just start looking at next year because that won’t help us.

“I just want to get better at the stuff that we need to.

“I sound like a broken record on this, but I’m not going to lose focus on it.

“We will have a plan and we will have the right people in place to implement it and we will just drive it until we get there.

“Hopefully one day we wake up and it is all fixed.”

Newcastle will next host the Canterbury Bulldogs at McDonald Jones Stadium on Sunday, 31 July, with kick-off scheduled for 2pm AEST.

Originally published as Newcastle Knight centre Dane Gagai sin binned after ‘heated’ incident with referee