NRL final series: Jared Waerea-Hargreaves faces one-match ban after being cited for alleged trip
Just a week after beating a high tackle rap, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves is back in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, this time hit with a one-match ban for an alleged trip of Souths’ James Roberts.
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Roosters enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves will miss the preliminary final unless he can beat a grade one tripping charge at the judiciary.
Less than a week after escaping a high tackle charge, Waerea-Hargreaves has been cited by the match review committee for his alleged trip on South Sydney’s James Roberts on Friday night at the SCG.
Normally the charge would carry a monetary fine, however, Waerea-Hargreaves has already been charged at least twice this year, which means he is ineligible for a fine on this occasion and is now facing a one-match ban.
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The issue for Waerea-Hargreaves is that even with an early-guilty plea, he will miss one match. With carry-over points included from previous offences, the base points is 120 - the equivalent of one match.
Privately, the Roosters forward believes the alleged trip wasn’t intentional and that it was merely a reaction to twist his body, after he was beaten by Roberts with superior footwork.
Roosters pivot Luke Keary said that if Waerea-Hargreaves was ruled out from a grand final qualifier, the club had enough depth to cover his omission.
“He’s obviously our leader - but we’ve missed him a lot of times this year, so I’m sure someone will step up for us,’’ Keary said.