Sharks prop Sam Tagataese will be sidelined for the remainder of the 2014 season after being charged by the match review committee with a Grade 3 Dangerous Throw.
After long deliberations Tagataese and the club decided to take the early guilty plea rather than risk the suspension cutting into the 2015 season.
The charge attracted 472 points, plus an additional 21 points carry-over for an early guilty plea, while were he to have challenged and failed to have the charge downgraded, Tagataese would have accumulated 620 points and faced a six match ban.
As it stands, he will miss four games and take 99 carry over points into next season.
With tackles deemed grade three or above, under judiciary rules the additional games not served in the current season can’t be served in the 2015 trials.
Therefore if successful in getting the charge downgraded from three to two, Tagataese would have still only been available for the Sharks round 26 match. If he had challenged and failed there was the possibility of him also missing the first two games next year.
The tackle in question was on Dane Neilsen in the 50th minute of the match with the Warrior centre falling awkwardly and being forced from the field with injury.
Tagataese checked on Neilsen, a former teammate from their days together at the Melbourne Storm and was relieved to find he had suffered no serious injury stemming from the incident.
The loss of Tagataese comes on top of the season-ending injury to Andrew Fifita as another blow in what has been a tumultuous year for the Sharks.
