Ben Te'o Monster Tackle on Matt Groat

Last Friday night, rugby league fans watched Brisbane Broncos back rower Ben Te'o flatten Wests Tigers prop Matt Groat with a thundering shoulder charge, straight from the text book of rugby league's glory days.

Today, the young Bronco faces a 4 week ban for the hit.

Have a look for yourself below:

While we do empathize with concussed Tigers forward Groat (and have plenty of experience dealing with head injuries), the fact a player got injured should not be a reason for suspension. Indeed, if Groat had jumped back up and played the ball, we wouldn't see this hit anywhere but a 'greatest hits' montage this week.

In our minds, this play should receive no ban and Te'o should be applauded for a massive hit. There was no swinging arm and Te'o didn't have malicious intent. If you look closely, Groat even seems to lower his head slightly before impact, which Te'o cannot be held at fault for. Unfortunately, injuries are a part of footy and some cannot be avoided when men of this size are running at each at full speed. 

So let's forget the injury for a moment; what do you think - was the tackle itself clean??