UPDATE: ROOSTERS enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves has taken the early guilty plea for his high shot on Manly's George Rose and will miss the next five weeks.

Hargreaves risked missing a whopping seven matches if the Roosters chose to fight the ban and lost at the judiciary.

According to ex-Australian and NSW prop Steve Roach, the ban has come about because referees failed to dismiss players who spear-tackled superstar Greg Inglis earlier this year.

"Waerea-Hargreaves is paying for the fact there was no send-off when Inglis was dumped on his head," Roach said.

Waerea-Hargreaves was marched on Monday night after the high hit on the Manly forward.

He was hit with a grade one reckless high tackle charge, but the severity of the ban is a result of three similar offences over the past two years.

"Five weeks for that?" Roach roared. "Inglis has been dropped on his head three times (by Richie Fa'aoso, twice, and Krisnan Inu) and nothing happened. It was like they had to send someone off. Waerea-Hargreaves is paying for something the refs didn't do earlier this year.

"People will think we play OzTag. They want the confrontational. Would he have been sent off in Origin? No way. Fans would stand and applaud. George Rose fell into the tackle."

But Roach's comments were offset by former Test forward Gorden Tallis, who told The Daily Telegraph: "We have been whinging about refs not making decisions and sending off players. Now they do it, we are whinging again. The refs can't win. It was a 50-50 call but we have to draw a line in the sand."

Inglis stressed player safety was imperative.

"Everyone keeps speaking about player welfare," Inglis said. "Player safety out on the field, everyone's got to be concerned of. I was the victim of those incidents but what's done is done."

Social media lit up yesterday with claims that other incidents this year also deserved send-offs.

"I didn't get a good look but it looked like flush contact," said Roosters legend Brad Fittler. "Given Jared's reaction, he seemed to accept it. He deserves something."

The game's greatest referee, Bill Harrigan, described the hit as a "front-on tackle gone wrong."

"I can understand why he was sent off because there was direct contact with the head," Harrigan said.

"I have seen other (incidents) with contact to the head this year that has been as bad but hasn't resulted in a send-off. But we can't go down the track of not sending players off because it didn't happen earlier. We have to get things right."

Parramatta skipper Reni Maitua tweeted: "Awful ruling. Penalty and report sufficient #ShakingHead#."

And Sharks skipper Paul Gallen told The Big Sports Breakfast: "When you see the replay he did hit him flush in the head. But under the circumstances I don't think he should have been sent off. I think it was harsh."

Roosters hooker Jake Friend also pleaded guilty for a high shot on Brent Kite and escaped suspension.