Wests Tigers half Latu Fainu has been found guilty of dangerous contact at the NRL judiciary and will spend the next three weeks on the sidelines.
In the third and final hearing of the night, Fainu challenged a Grade 3 dangerous contact charge, aiming to be found not guilty entirely.
The charge came from the second half of the Tigers' heavy loss to the Canterbury Bulldogs on Saturday evening, when he made low contact with Canterbury prop Leo Thompson.
Fainu, in attempting to stop the opposition prop, essentially made shoulder to knee contact, and Thompson flipped into a very awkward position as he landed on the ground.
Fainu and his counsel were aiming to prove other similar incidents had gone unpunished this year - videos popped up on social media throughout the course of Tuesday of other players committing such tackles, but were unsuccessful in having the NRL's judiciary panel wipe the charge entirely.
The NRL and their prosecution at all cases in recent years have made it clear defenders have a responsility to the duty of care for attackers, and in this instance, the accusation was that Fainu showed none.
With an early guilty plea, Fainu was facing a two-match ban, however, after being found guilty, he will now be sidelined for three matches.
He did seek to have his charge downgraded, but the NRL have confirmed it was upheld.
Fainu, who has been a regular in the Tigers' side this week, will now miss matches against the Canberra Raiders, Parramatta Eels and St George Illawarra Dragons, with a Round 23 bye ensuring he won't be eligible to play again until August 23 against the Sydney Roosters.
Fainu was only named in the reserves by Benji Marshall for this weekend's trip to Canberra, so the Tigers won't need to make any late changes to accomodate for him being suspended.
Earlier, South Sydney Rabbitohs second-rower David Fifita was found guilty of dangerous contact and will miss two matches, while Fainu's Tigers teammate Adam Doueihi was found not guilty of a careless high tackle and will be free to play this weekend.
