NRL: Matai pleads guilty for high-tackle

Steve Matai of the Sea Eagles is tackled by Sam Perrett of the Roosters during the round 11 NRL match between the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles and the Sydney Roosters. Photo / Getty Images.

Manly centre Steve Matai will miss the NRL premiers' next two matches after opting to take the guilty plea following his grade-four careless high-tackle charge.

The New Zealand international knocked out Penrith's Danny Galea with a swinging arm that caught the back-rower flush across the jaw in the Sea Eagles' 22-4 defeat by the Panthers on Sunday.

Matai will sit out Friday's clash with St George Illawarra at Brookvale Oval and next week's encounter against ladder leaders Melbourne.

Manly coach Geoff Toovey admitted the club were reluctant to accept the ban, but said the risk of losing the 28-year-old for an extended period, should they contest the charge, was too great.

"It's too fraught with danger, we think, to go and challenge it. The system is not perfect, so it's probably just best to take the guilty plea," Toovey said on Tuesday.

Matai has a long rap sheet for similar offences and missed the first four games of last season as he served out the remainder of a seven-match ban for a high shot on Canterbury's Michael Ennis in the final round of the 2010 campaign.

Toovey said it was frustrating to have to once again do without the services of Matai, but said the grading system imposed by the match review committee was flawed and unfair.

"It's his style of play that he's aggressive and the system is weighted against people that are aggressive in our game," he said.

"I've said since day one, when the system was brought in by Jim Hall, that it's unfair.

"It's hard because it's such a subjective matter, but I still think there must be a system out there that's better.

"I thought it was a penalty, I have no problem with it, but with the grading system - I have no idea how it works."

- AAP