Paul Gallen lashes out over Nate Myles' punishment for sideline incident with Joseph Suaalii

Rugby league great Paul Gallen has slammed the NRL's decision to not hand Queensland assistant coach Nate Myles at least a fine for his sideline run-in with Blues debutant Joseph Suaalii. Myles was reprimanded at the time but escaped any further sanction for giving the Roosters centre a spray as he left the field after being sent off in State of Origin I.

Suaalii's debut for NSW lasted just seven minutes as he was given his marching orders after knocking out Reece Walsh in a sickening tackle. Walsh was deemed to have a Category 1 concussion and was ruled out for the remainder of the game.

Suaalii was sent straight off - becoming just the sixth player in State of Origin history to suffer that fate. But as he left the field, Myles - who was on the sideline speaking to Selwyn Cobbo as he prepared to come on in place of Walsh - gave Suaalii a gobful as he walked past.

According to the Daily Telegraph, Myles told Suaalii "Enjoy your f***ing debut" three times and was then given a warning from an NRL official on the sideline about his behaviour. Following the match, the Roosters centre - who is leaving the NRL for rugby union at the end of the season - was slapped with a four-game ban which rules him out of Origin II and won't see him play for the Roosters again until Round 18.

Myles, however, will be back on the sideline for Queensland for Game II after receiving no further sanction. And his former Origin foe Gallen says he deserved to cop some punishment for his actions as he simply should know better.

"I thought that was ordinary," Gallen said on Nine's 100% Footy. "Nate's in a privileged position there and as we know Nate Myles was a great player and he gave as good as he got on the football field but when you're in a position like he is there you can't let emotion get the better of you and he let emotion get the better of him.

"If you're going to let emotion get the better of you then you should be sitting behind the fence and sitting in the crowd. I think he's very, very lucky that he wasn't fined, he definitely should've been fined in my opinion.

"Imagine he had have said that to a Spencer Leniu or Liam Martin or one of the big boys walking off the field. I thought he saw an opportunity to have a go at a young bloke who would've been pretty intimidated by the situation, and he took it, and I thought it was pretty ordinary behaviour. I'd like to think Nate being the bloke he is would regret what he did and I can't believe he wasn't fined."

Paul Gallen says beef with Nate Myles is behind him

Gallen and Myles have history, with the pair famously throwing down in the 2013 Origin series. It was a defining moment in modern rugby league with punches very rarely thrown since then after a crackdown by the league. And the Sharks great insists his view on Myles' sideline actions has nothing to do with their past.

"I saw Nate Myles before the game, shook his hand and said hello. I've got no issue with Nate whatsoever," he said. "I played footy with him post that situation and I've said it before ... I'm not proud of what happened but it happened and we can't change it. It has absolutely nothing to do with what happened then, it was more than 10 years ago. I just think the position that he's in, he should know better."