Gold Coast’s Jarrod Wallace loves ex-teammate Adam Blair’s competitiveness and aggression.
What he doesn’t love is the way the Warriors enforcer allows those qualities to cross into dirty play.
Blair marked his 300th NRL appearance with a 24-20 win over the Titans at Cbus Super Stadium on Friday but was sin-binned with 50 seconds to play following a late hit on Titans’ five-eighth Tyrone Roberts.
The 33-year-old’s indiscretion didn’t prove costly for the Warriors as the Titans failed in a last-gasp bid to steal the points but it didn’t please Wallace, who played alongside Blair at Brisbane for two seasons.
“That’s his job, to get in and niggle those halfbacks and niggle those little fellas,” Wallace told AAP.
“I definitely think he can do it in a better way.
“If he’s got the opportunity to tackle, do it, but don’t do it like he did tonight and hit T (Roberts) so late.
“At the end of the day it’s dangerous and it’s going to hurt someone.
“I like his aggression and that, it’s great when he’s on your team … it’s a contact sport but you’ve still got to be thinking safety first too.”
Blair is just the third New Zealand international to reach 300 NRL games, joining Ruben Wiki (311) and Simon Mannering (301).
Warriors coach Stephen Kearney praised the veteran for forcing his way back into the Warriors line-up to achieve the milestone and said the shot on Roberts was an outcome of his desire to do his job for his team.
“Right to the end he’s trying to make it happen for the team and put pressure on the halves,” Kearney said.
“That’s what makes Adam Adam.
“There were a couple of lovely messages earlier this week by Sammy Thaiday, Billy Slater and Cameron Smith and the overwhelming point was he was a player that they loved playing with but didn’t enjoy playing against.”