Sydney Roosters' hooker Sam Verrills will fight his judiciary charge.
Verrills was hit with a Grade 2 high tackle charge for a shot on Brian Kelly during the Roosters nail-biting elimination final victory over the Gold Coast Titans on Saturday evening in Townsville.
The Grade 2 charge comes with questions being asked about how Verrills wasn't at the very least sin binned for ten minutes for the shot as inconsistency flared again.
Verrills was facing a one-week ban if he took the early guilty plea, however, risks a two-week ban by going to the judiciary.
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The Roosters are understood to believe the charge was unwarranted as a Grade 2 and will fight for downgrade.
If they are successful, Verrills will be free to play in the Roosters' semi-final against the Manly Sea Eagles on Friday evening in Mackay. If not, Verrills will not only miss the game against Manly, but a potential preliminary final should the Roosters win.
A successful challenge will leave Verrills with a Grade 1 charge and a fine of $1150.
The hearing will commence at 6pm (AEST) on Tuesday.
The news of the challenge comes despite Fox Sports' Gorden Tallis saying during the game that he thought it should have been a trip to the sin bin for Verrills.
“I actually thought he was going to get 10 in the bin,” Tallis said.
That opinion didn't carry universally though, with Channel 9s Andrew Johns saying he didn't even think it should be a penalty.
“Kelly is falling, he cannot disappear, Sam Verrills is committed to the tackle,” Johns said.
“But, if you look at Brian Kelly – his nose is broken.
“For me it’s not even a penalty. Brian Kelly’s falling, Sam Verrills committed to the tackle, unfortunately there are collisions that are going to happen.”
The conjecture over the tackle follows this year's famous crackdown in magic round which saw three players sent off in the one weekend and multiple spend time in the sin bin.
While players being placed on report and suspended is still a common occurrence, the number of sin bins and send offs have significantly dropped in the weeks leading up to the finals.
