Canterbury Bulldogs second-rower Jacob Preston has been found guilty of a crusher tackle at the NRL judiciary and will spend four weeks on the sideline.
Preston was charged for the tackle during Sunday afternoon's magic round clash against the Gold Coast Titans, with the tackle coming against opposition captain Tino Fa'asuamaleaui during the final minutes of the game.
Sin binned for the tackle, Preston was then slapped with a Grade 1 crusher tackle charge.
The NRL takes a dim view of crusher tackles, and so, with it being a third offence on his record, Preston could have only accepted a three-match ban with an early guilty plea.
He risked a fourth match by heading to the judiciary, and will be suspended for that long after losing his battle during Tuesday night's hearing.
The judiciary's finding dashes the outside chance that Preston could have pushed for a New South Wales Blues State of Origin debut following an excellent start to the year.
The second-rower joins a lengthy list of suspensions for the Bulldogs. While Matt Burton is back this weekend as Canterbury travel south to play the Canberra Raiders, the club are still without Sitili Tupouniua and Josh Curran.
The suspension for Preston means he will miss not only the upcoming Round 10 clash against the Green Machine, but also Round 11 and 12 home games against the Sydney Roosters and Dolphins, before a bye breaks up his suspension. He will miss Round 14 on the King's Birthday against the Parramatta Eels, before being eligible to return in Round 15 against the South Sydney Rabbitohs.
Preston was named for this weekend's game with Canberra, and it could now see either Harry Hayes or Kurtis Morrin shuffle out of position into the starting side, with Lipoi Hopoi and Luke Smith the other forwards among the reserves for Cameron Ciraldo's side, who play on Saturday afternoon.
