Paul Ferguson was ruled out for 12 months with a mild brain injury this week, but has decided to hang up the boots.

It was already expected to be the last season for the Temora junior, but the replacement forward is "beyond devastated" that what happened on Sunday not only ended his season but his football playing days.

The Kangaroos centre was handed a 21-game suspension for the incident at Equex Centre.

Dragons captain-coach Sam Elwin is horrified by what happened.

"It's something you don't wish upon anyone else and it's pretty scary that it can happen to anyone," Elwin said.

"He was trying to break it all up and trying to play the Good Samaritan and has copped a punch and it's possibly the end of his sporting career."

However Kangaroos have confirmed they will appeal the bumper suspension.

Tuinauvai pleaded guilty and expressed his remorse at the judicial hearing on Wednesday night and president Terry Cronin is looking to have the penalty reduced.

"We're appealing the severity of it," Cronin said. "It is excessively excessive."

A high grade striking charges faces a minimum base sanction of 600 points, which equates to six games, but Tuinauvai's penalty was 2800 points, or 28 games, before being reduced for the guilty plea.

Temora also haven't ruled out appealing Zach Starr's nine-game ban for a high tackle on Kangaroos halfback Zac Graham which sparked the fiery clash between the two sides.

Graham was knocked out by the late hit and will miss at least the next two weeks starting with Saturday's clash with Junee.

The loss of Fergsuon and Starr have only added to Temora's player drain.

Centre Jock Ward also won't face Gundagai on Saturday after picking up a shoulder injury last week but they have received a boost with Jake Milnes returning from a finger injury.

"We're looking at nearly double figures for injuries this week which is just ridiculous," Elwin said.

READ MORE