Serial offender Richie Fa'aoso must receive a hefty penalty to send a message on spear tackles One of the two Richie Fa'aoso spear tackles on Greg Inglis from Friday night. WHEN medical experts kept warning the NRL about the dangers of the shoulder charge, they banned it. The game is still the toughest and most brutal contact sport on the planet and hasn't been ruined as a spectacle. Now one of Australia's leading sports doctors, Nathan Gibbs, has issued a chilling warning about the spear tackle. He says someone will finish up in a wheelchair if it doesn't stop. When Gibbs talks, it's time to stop and listen. He is not a sensationalist looking for headlines. The Sydney Swans doctor and former South Sydney Rabbitohs skipper played in the wild old days of stiff arms, brawls and cheap shots in the 1970s. He is no wimp but is deeply concerned for the welfare of players. Friday night's two spear tackles by Manly forward Richie Fa'aoso on Souths fullback Greg Inglis were simply unacceptable. Check out all the incidents put on report from a bruising encounter between Manly and South Sydney. They were even unacceptable back in the wild old 70s and 80s when Gibbs played. It's a miracle Inglis wasn't seriously hurt. Earlier this season, Canterbury centre Krisnan Inu was suspended for five weeks for the same tackle. That suspension obviously wasn't a strong enough warning. In a high-speed game such as rugby league, accidents and injuries are always going to occur. Sometimes players can get lifted and with more than one person in the tackle, anything can happen. But to do it twice on the same player is intolerable. The referees erred by allowing Fa'aoso to stay on the field on Friday night. Referees' boss Daniel Anderson is already on record as saying Inu should have been sent off when Canterbury played Souths. Fa'aoso has become a serial offender. He was lucky to get only a one-week suspension for his shoulder charge on Gold Coast Titans forward Ashley Harrison that put the Queensland Origin star on a stretcher and in a neck brace. The judiciary was obviously too light on him last time. Hopefully, they'll get it right this week and hand out the long suspension that he deserves.