Ugly Herman Ese’ese shot becomes third Magic Round send off

Fox League analyst Cooper Cronk has been left baffled by an ugly high shot that has led to the NRL’s third send off of the weekend.

Herman Ese'ese given his marching orders.

The Penrith Panthers were primed to put on a cricket score as the Gold Coast Titans’ Herman Ese’ese was sent off after another high tackle in the first half of the final clash of Magic Round.

The Panthers were leading 24-0 before the first half incident, having run rampant early.

While the undefeated ladder leaders ran away with a 48-12 win, it could have been so much worse with the Titans playing 43 minutes with 12 men.

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Panthers winger Brian To’o was taken off his feet after the hit with the Titans forward hanging his arm out and hitting his opponent high.

While the NRL crackdown has been the topic of the weekend at Magic Round, it appeared the sides were starting to understand they needed to hit lower.

But the third send off of the weekend after Raiders forward Josh Papalii and Dragons centre Tyrell Fuimaono came in the final game of the weekend.

Including Ese’ese’s send off and an earlier sin bin for the Panthers’ Moses Leota, it takes the weekend tally to 14 sin bins and three send offs, with eight sin bins coming on Friday night alone.

Referee Adam Gee had no choice but to send him off, with Ese’ese also off-side.

The ugly shot on Brian To'o.

Fox League’s Cooper Cronk was blown away that Ese’ese had performed the tackle despite having seen a weekend full of matches.

“Considering this has been in since Friday night, Herman Ese’ese has seen seven games go before, seen the reports, seen the sin bins and send offs we’ve had this weekend – you need to steady your feet.

“He was off-side to start with, flies out of the line – I like the intention – but he has to steady his feet. To leave his arm out there lazy and makes contact with To’o’s head, what else is a referee to do but to send him from the field?”

Social media also took aim at the shot.

That’s a send off even last week!!! An all time brain fade.

— Chris Garry (@ChrisGarry7) May 16, 2021

Sums up my feelings about the current administration and changes to rugby league #nrl#brokenhttps://t.co/Gg9JVDYMKu

— Paul Johnson (@pjohnson_sports) May 16, 2021

For all the rule change controversy the 3 send offs this weekend have been pretty clear cut.

— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) May 16, 2021

Adding insult to injury, the Panthers then scored through Charlie Staines to open up the 30-0 lead.

Earlier, the Titans had two tries and the Panthers had one try denied through obstructions, as the Gold Coast missed an opportunity to fire an early shot.

But Nathan Cleary dominated the game, taking on the line and scoring the fourth hattrick of his career in yet another dominant victory.

Originally published as Ugly Herman Ese’ese shot becomes third Magic Round send off