Jared Waerea-Hargreaves water bottle act explodes in wild scenes

There were fiery scenes at Allianz Stadium as it looked like Jared Waerea-Hargreaves may have met his match in the crazy eyes of Spencer Leniu.

They were some wild scenes. Photo: Fox Sports

No Nathan Cleary, no problem for Penrith as the Panthers crushed the Roosters 30-6 at Allianz Stadium on Saturday night.

The Panthers were red hot as they ran in five tries to one but the match was overshadowed by a wild finish at the end of the match when Roosters enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Penrith’s Spencer Leniu went face-to-face in wild scenes.

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It came after a relatively innocuous moment that saw Joey Manu knock on but it descended into chaos on the field.

Earlier, there had been a running battle with the Panthers pack aiming up on Waerea-Hargreaves. It hadn’t paid off for the Panthers as the side’s NSW Origin forward Liam Martin had clipped Waerea-Hargreaves’ hip when rushing up in defence and saw him leave the field with a category 1 concussion, which generally comes with an 11 day stand down, which would rule him out of Origin game two although it will depend if there are any concussion symptoms.

Bulldogs hooker Reed Mahoney was handed a category 1 last week but will play on Monday after Canterbury took him through protocols to get him cleared to play.

But it was the spark that lit the fuse as the breakdown after Manu’s knock on.

He also was involved in the incident which saw Moses Leota hit by the Roosters’ bumpers in another hit up.

He sprayed a bottle of water on Leniu’s head before Waerea-Hargreaves threw the bottle and hit the Panther in the face.

The water bottle didn't help. Photo: Fox Sports

Leniu was ready to go. Photo: Fox Sports

It sparked an all in melee and the referees announced both Leniu and Waerea-Hargreaves would end up in the bin.

All the more interesting is that Leniu will join the Roosters on a long-term deal next season.

“What’s happened here?” Michael Ennis said on Fox League.

“All I saw was water sprayed over the top.”

Dan Ginnane said: “We got some alpha males clashing heavily.”

As the referees separated the pair and tried to work out how to approach it, Leniu continued in on a smiling Waerea-Hargreaves.

“It can’t be a water bottle that’s got Spencer this fired up?” Ginnane said.

“I think this was before the water bottle, this has just poured fuel on the fire.”

Ennis said: “Hargreaves and him were in a verbal. He’s telling him to ‘shut up’ and Spencer’s still going here.”

But as Leniu kept going, the referee had no choice but to send him first.

He wasn’t going without a final word though, seemingly telling Waerea-Hargreaves to meet him out the back to finish off their confrontation.

“These are extraordinary scenes,” Ginnane said. “I’m not sure he didn’t say ‘Jared, carpark after the game’.”

Panthers star delivers questionable gesture. Photo Fox Sports

JWH was loving it. Photo: Fox Sports

Leniu was still fuming and as he left the field with the Roosters faithful giving it to him as he left the ground.

Fox League sideline reporter Matt Russell said he “invited anyone who wanted to come out the back into the carpark”.

Hargreaves left to a hero’s reception from the Allianz Stadium crowd.

Post-match, Mal Meninga said: “I thought it was great.

“They went after Jared early in the game. He’s the man, he’s the main man at the Roosters, he’s the alpha male and I thought they attacked him really well at the beginning of the game. That took him out of the game and then Jared had a point to prove.”

Roosters coach Trent Robinson also said it was just passion on display and there was nothing untoward in the scenes.

“It was great for footy, that’s why people enjoy watching the footy,” Robinson said.

“There was nothing in it from either end. There wasn’t much to it.

“Good theatre, move on.”

Panther coach Ivan Cleary said Hargreaves was “looking for trouble — and he found it”.

Panthers skipper Isaah Yeo said he was proud of how the Panthers pack took Hargreaves out of the game.

“I thought we handle him really well, I thought we handled their pack to be honest in that first half,” Yeo said.

“He clipped a couple of our boys — incidental I thought.”

Roosters skipper James Tedesco said he had tried to calm Hargreaves down during the incident.

“I’m just glad he didn’t do anything silly and that’s why we love Jared because he plays with such aggression but then it can cost us at times as well,” Tedesco said.