Canterbury coach Des Hasler is expecting Krisnan Inu to find himself in hot water following his spear tackle on South Sydney fullback Greg Inglis.
Inu was lucky to stay on the field after the incident in the second half of his side’s 17-12 defeat after dumping Inglis on his head.
However, referee Shayne Hayne opted to place the Kiwi centre on report.
No player has been sent from the field for a spear tackle since Peter O’Driscoll received his marching orders for Souths in 1995.
Hasler refused to defend his player but said it was out of character for the enigmatic centre to deliberately try and hurt an opponent.
“It went wrong that tackle. Let’s not kid ourselves,” Hasler said.
“It didn’t look too good. Krisnan’s got an impeccable record.
“He’s not that kind of player. We’ll wait and see just how it’s graded.
“The way the gradings are going we might get off lightly.”
Inglis was suffering from a sore neck after the game and was checked out by doctors, but is not expected to miss any games.
That is unlikely to be the case for Inu, whose challenge was labelled “one of the worst I’ve seen for some time,” by commentator and former Penrith halfback Greg Alexander.
Inu’s teammate Tony Williams was hit with a seven-game following a similar incident on Cronulla Isaac De Gois when he was playing for Manly last year.
Williams was slugged with a grade four charge and was facing potentially 10 games on the sidelines before taking the early guilty plea.
Souths coach Michael Maguire said he couldn’t discuss the incident because it had been put on report.
Asked what was going through his mind when the incident occurred, Maguire said: “Greggy get up. Do your job.”
“We can’t really comment. At the end of the day, it’s sorted out over the next couple of days.”
Souths prop Roy Asotasi admitted he was concerned for Inglis’ when he saw the Queensland superstar land on the back of his neck.
“It was a pretty bad-looking tackle,” Asotasi said.
“It is probably the worst way to land. It was pretty much head first and he still had his arms.
“I am sure it will get sorted out. The welfare of players is the most important thing in the game.”