South Sydney prop George Burgess is in hot water after an alleged eye gouge marred the Wests Tigers' ugly 14-9 NRL win over the Rabbitohs on Thursday.
Burgess was put on report and will face scrutiny from the match review committee for an incident on Robbie Farah that overshadowed a piece of Michael Chee-Kam brilliance to extend the Rabbitohs' losing streak at Bankwest Stadium.
The Englishman is facing the prospect of a lengthy ban if charged after last year copping a four-match suspension for an eye gouge on New Zealand's Dallin Watene-Zelezniak.
Burgess put his fingers in the Tigers veteran's face during a tackle and Farah got up and complained to referee Adam Gee, who placed Burgess on report early in the first half.
Chee-Kam was the unlikely hero, producing a four-pointer out of nothing after he ran 50 metres, beating attempted tackles by Kyle Turner and Adam Reynolds before stepping around fullback Corey Allan.
It was reminiscent of his late game-winning effort against Brisbane in round five as Michael Maguire's side registered their second win in a row.
Earlier it looked like Reynolds - in his first game back from a back injury - had won his side the game when he broke the 8-8 deadlock with a field goal in the 73rd minute.
However Chee-Kam struck with three minutes remaining as the Rabbitohs slumped to their fourth straight defeat.
While Chee-Kam's late try lit up the 9807-strong crowd, it was a largely uninspiring affair.
Both sides struggled to hold onto the ball in slippery conditions which have become a hallmark of night games played at Bankwest Stadium with the Rabbitohs making 14 errors and the Tigers 12.
The scores were locked up at 8-all at halftime however the Tigers should have been up by more after spending most of the first 40 minutes inside the Rabbitohs' end.
The Tigers had 61 per cent of possession and 22 tackles inside the opposition's red zone compared to Souths' two but struggled to land a punch.
They did get back on level pegging two minutes before the halftime siren when Luke Brooks dabbed the ball into the in-goal and Corey Thompson beat Reynolds and Roberts to score.
However the Rabbitohs were equally wasteful in the second half as their representative season slump continued.
Souths coach Wayne Bennett said he had only seen the Burgess incident briefly but was disappointed.
"There was just no need to put himself in that position to start," Bennett said.
"I'm not condemning him for it in that I don't know whether his fingers actually made contact with the eye or not. The point is it was totally unwarranted anyway."
Maguire praised Chee-Kam, revealing he was told by his teammates in the dressingsheds to come up with a winning play.
"The boys actually said to him 'you're going to have to come up with something special'. I didn't think it was going to be that one," Maguire said.
"He's got a bit if x-factor about him. It's great to have him amongst the boys, he was able to come up with a big play for us."
