Manly forward Josh Aloiai should have been sin-binned for tripping Daine Laurie during his side's loss to Penrith, the NRL's football boss Graham Annesley says.
But Annesley felt match officials over-reacted in sending Warriors playmaker Chanel Harris-Tavita from the field for 10 minutes for throwing the ball at North Queensland's Chad Townsend during a scuffle.
Aloiai on Tuesday accepted a two-match ban for the incident, which initially went undetected by match officials in the second half of the Panthers' 32-22 win on Sunday.
As play continued, the bunker examined footage showing Aloiai stretching out his leg and tripping Laurie as the stand-in fullback ran in support during a line break.
The bunker advised referee Gerard Sutton to place Aloiai on report, but Annesley said the official should have sent the Manly forward from the field for 10 minutes.
"It should've been a sin bin," Annesley said.
"Because it was missed by the match officials, it was reviewed by the bunker in the background.
"(But) I guess the important point is that even though play may continue, it doesn't prevent a player going to the sin bin."
In years gone by, tripping was considered among the most serious offences a player could commit.
But in the modern game, many such incidents occur accidentally as a defender makes a tackle - with fines the most common penalty from the match review committee.
Annesley felt Aloiai's trip was more sinister, though.
"It was at the higher end of that type of offence," he said.
"It's quite different to ones that we've seen earlier where they've tended to be a player trying to make a tackle and their foot has come out at the same time."
But Annesley did not believe Harris-Tavita should have been sin-binned when tempers flared in the second half of the Warriors' 42-12 defeat of the Cowboys on Saturday.
After a series of minor incidents, referee Ziggy Przeklasa-Adamski lost patience when Harris-Tavita threw the ball at Townsend after the Cowboy forced play to a stop by giving away a penalty.
Townsend also ended up in the sin bin for rushing in to escalate the situation, but Annesley felt Harris-Tavita was hard done by.
"I don't think that the referee made it obvious enough to the general public about why the player was being sin-binned," he said.
"There's also a question mark in my mind over whether that incident was sufficient to warrant that particular stand.
"He could have got away with waiting for something a little more serious than that."
Canterbury's Kurt Mann has accepted a two-match ban after laying a crusher tackle on Parramatta centre Will Penisini in the Bulldogs' 22-18 win on Monday night.
