Canberra Raiders captain Elliott Whitehead has been knocked out of the finals in horror circumstances, and will now have to pay $3600 worth of fines to end his season.
Whitehead, who has only had one charge previously this season, was charged twice by the NRL's match review committee in the only incidents from the game which have been pinged.
It means Jack Wighton has got away with a head slam on Mitchell Moses and a seeming high tackle just a minute later in what was the game's only other reported offence, with the Eels taking a clean bill on the suspension front into next week's preliminary final against the North Queensland Cowboys.
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Whitehead, who also spent 15 minutes off the park with a head injury assessment during the first half, was hit with a pair of Grade 1 dangerous contact charges that will mean he has three offences on his record in the NRL's rolling 12-month judiciary record come the start of 2023, and will mean he walks a tightrope with even minor offences likely leading to a suspension next year.
The English forward's charges came for tackles on Dylan Brown in the 49th minute, and on Reagan Campbell-Gillard in the 78th minute, although neither was placed on report during the course of the game by referee Ashley Klein.
Each charge leads to a respective $1800 fine with an early guilty plea, or $2500 if he were to head to the judiciary and lose the challenge.
