Manly coach Des Hasler admits Steve Matai will have to re-model his game to survive in the NRL after the fiery centre was rubbed out for seven games by the NRL judiciary on Tuesday.
The Sea Eagles accepted early guilty pleas to both Matai's grade-three reckless high tackle charge and prop Jason King's grade-one careless high tackle booking, further decimating their already depleted ranks ahead of Sunday's fourth qualifying final against St George Illawarra.
King will miss one game while Matai won't be available again until the early rounds of the 2011 season after his poor judiciary record – with the accompanying carryover points - resulted in a heavy suspension.
The only good news for the Sea Eagles is that backrower Chris Bailey is free to play against the Dragons after an early guilty plea allowed him to escape suspension.
Matai's long ban for his late and high hit on Bulldogs hooker Michael Ennis adds to an already lengthy rap sheet.
Hasler feels the volatile Matai is paying an unfair price for previous indiscretions but concedes the Kiwi Test centre – and not the system – needs to change.
"Steve Matai in some circles has been vilified. Unfortunately Steve is a victim of the process," Hasler declared on Tuesday.
"At that stage (of the Ennis hit) he was trying to lift his team-mates and it was a tackle that went a bit wrong."
"That's the way Steve plays (but) it's something we will have to guard against and certainly work on and control."
Matai's charge would ordinarily have resulted in a four-match suspension but his poor disciplinary record meant that he risked a nine-game suspension if he'd taken his charge to the judiciary on Tuesday night and lost.
Four previous incidents including two similar ones in recent seasons meant that the points tally swelled to 960 but his decision not to contest reduces that to 720 before the addition of 16 carryover points.
He will not be permitted to use New Zealand's Four Nations matches to whittle away his suspension.
South Sydney giant Dave Taylor will be free to start next season after accepting the early guilty plea to a careless high tackle charge.