Jared Waerea-Hargreaves finished Sunday’s game against the Dragons with six stitches to a nasty cut on his head – but it could have been so much worse for his Sydney Roosters teammate Connor Watson.

Waerea-Hargreaves was hit with a four-match ban at the judiciary on Wednesday night for a high shot on St George Illawarra’s Max Feagai.

The front-rower would have been fined $3000 had he succeeded in having the tackle reduced to a grade one, but the grade-two offence increased his suspension from three matches to four matches.

This masthead can reveal it was Watson – not St George Illawarra Dragons prop Ben Murdoch-Masila – that left the Roosters’ record-breaker with blood streaming down his face before half-time on Sunday.

A couple of plays before Waerea-Hargreaves and Murdoch-Masila collided, the front-rower and Watson tried to stop Max Feagai.

Watson’s right hand landed straight on the top of Waerea-Hargreaves’ head, which caused the bloody mess.

The knock, however, caused Watson’s hand to immediately swell, and he arrived in NSW Origin camp with an ice pack to help with the swelling.