Wayne Bennett has publicly chided George Burgess for his alleged eye gouge on Robbie Farah, saying there was no reason for him to put his fingers in the Wests Tigers veteran’s face.

South Sydney prop Burgess will on Friday learn his fate after being put on report for an ugly incident early in the first-half of the Rabbitohs’ 14-9 NRL defeat to the Tigers at Bankwest Stadium on Thursday.

Burgess is facing the prospect of a lengthy stint on the sidelines after digging his fingers into Farah’s face in a tackle early in the first half.

While it was not conclusive he had dug into Farah’s eyes, the Tigers No.9 got up and remonstrated with referee Adam Gee.

Burgess could be hit particularly hard by the match review committee given his history after he was last year found guilty of eye gouging Dallin Watene-Zelezniak and suspended for four games.

Bennett said while he didn’t know whether Burgess was guilty of a gouge, he expressed his disappointment that he had made contact with Farah’s face.

“There was just no need to put himself in that position to start,” Bennett said.

“I’m not condemning him for it, in that I don’t know whether his fingers actually made contact with the eye or not. The point is it was totally unwarranted.”

Canberra’s Hudson Young was earlier this month rubbed out for five weeks for an eye gouge on Aiden Tolman.

However, North Queensland firebrand Josh McGuire has twice this year escaped with a fine for contrary conduct for facials on Cameron Munster and Dylan Walker.

The NRL was forced to defend its decision not to charge McGuire with a more serious offence but argued its hand were tied because neither players made complaints.

Given that Farah got up claiming Burgess’ fingers made contact with his yes, the Englishman is likely to find himself with a case to answer.

“Obviously there was a hand on the face but after that, looking on the big screen that’s all I could see, I only saw it once or twice,” Bennett said.

“I can’t definitely say it was an eye gouge or what it was. There was definitely a hand in the face, no doubt about it, but I thought it was more in the forehead.”

Tigers coach Michael Maguire refused to comment on the incident.