The man whose career ended from repeated concussions, Sydney Roosters veteran Jake Friend, says the NRL's Magic Round crackdown on high-shots was "harsh".
Friend made the decision to call time on his 264-game career earlier this year following "extensive medical advice" after suffering his third concussion in six months.
But watching on over round ten as an ex-player, Friend believed the crackdown which saw 14 players sin binned and 3 sent off was improperly applied.
"It's [concussion] definitely an issue but I thought the way that it was done was possibly the wrong way to go about it," Friend told WWOS Radio on 2GB.
"There's no doubt that we have to look at head collisions in the game but to throw it mid-season and go so harsh at it, not giving clubs and players the opportunity to train at it and practice it, it was hard to watch.
"I thought some of the games on the weekend were probably blown out and weren't the games they should have been because of blokes in the bin."
Settling into life following his medical retirement, Friend reflected on the tough decisions that led to him calling it quits, revealing he didn't want to end the journey but had little option.
"I went through every process I could. I wanted to play on, but I saw a lot of specialists outside of the roosters, I think the Roosters were really good in administrating that and getting second opinions," he said.
"It just became a decision based on some professional opinions that I felt if I didn't listen to them, I'd be silly for it. As hard as it was, it sort of became easy in the end when everyone was saying the same thing to me."
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