Roosters enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves has copped a whopping seven-game ban after he failed in his bid to have a dangerous contact charge downgraded at the NRL judiciary on Tuesday night.

Waerea-Hargreaves – who has now been charged five times this year – had already accepted a three-match suspension for a striking charge for headbutting Wests Tigers prop Stefano Utoikamanu after a scuffle broke out following his late shot on Api Koroisau.

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The Roosters chose to roll the dice in a bid to have their veteran prop available for the preliminary final if they get their far, with the club hoping to have the grade two charge reduced for dangerous contact on Koroisau which would have resulted in a $3000 fine.

But the judiciary panel of Bob Lindner and Sean Hampstead unanimously found him guilty, with the ban upgraded to four matches which means he’ll miss the entire finals series and the trip to Las Vegas next year unless the club argues to the NRL that he would have been picked for the end of year Tests.

They determined that the Roosters star “at the very least” acted in a highly careless fashion and that there was a “high risk of injury” placed on a vulnerable kicker.

Judiciary counsel Patrick Knowles said that Waerea-Hargreaves rushed out of the line and hit Koroisau after he kicked with the force of “a metaphorical freight train” in a tackle he described as being “reckless”.

He argued that the Roosters prop “foresaw the danger of the contact” but went through with it anyway which increased the risk of injury.

“That tackle is at best always going to be around the very top of the shoulders,” he said, claiming the 34-year-old always had eyes for Koroisau.

“There’s no way in which you reconcile from the evidence that there’s no contact with the head or neck.”

Waerea-Hargreaves actually gave evidence and told defence counsel James McLeod that he was simply attempting to apply kick pressure and that he categorically did not make contact with the head or neck.

“My first contact is with his upper left shoulder and my torso,” he said of the incident which sparked a melee and saw him sent to the sin bin.

“I accept I was late, maybe even clumsy and maybe I got it wrong, but I definitely committed to the tackle and went through with the tackle.

“I feel like he rolled with my momentum.

“I accept I got this tackle wrong

“I wasn’t able to stop on a dime. It was a clumsy tackle.”

McLeod put forward that there was no evidence based on the eight camera angles that proved his client had made direct contact with the head or neck and that the lack of injury, whiplash or an HIA proved that his actions were careless.

The ban leaves Waerea-Hargreaves stranded on 298 games, with the veteran prop unable to help his team on Friday night when they battle the Rabbitohs with a spot in the finals on the line.

The Roosters prop declined to speak with reporters after the hearing.