Penrith Panthers and New Zealand international second-rower Scott Sorensen has failed in his bid to have a shoulder charge downgraded at the NRL judiciary, being found guilty of the Grade 2 offence.
Sorensen was cited out of Penrith's loss - their sixth in eight starts this year - to the Manly Sea Eagles on Saturday evening.
The ugly shot, on Manly lock Nathan Brown, saw Sorensen sin binned and then charged the following morning.
Shoulder charges are viewed dimly by the NRL's judiciary code, and so despite it being a first offence on his rolling 12-month record, he would have had to accept a two-match ban with an early guilty plea.
Instead, he went to the judiciary looking for a downgrade which would have enabled him to pay a fine and make the trip to Magic Round, but in a hearing that was completed in less than 90 minutes, the Grade 2 verdict was upheld.
That now tacks a match onto his suspension, and the Penrith forward will miss three games.
That starts with the Magic Round clash this Sunday against the Brisbane Broncos, before he will also miss games against the North Queensland Cowboys and Newcastle Knights on either side of a bye.
Sorensen's return will be in Round 13 against the Parramatta Eels.
Named on Tuesday afternoon to take on the Broncos, it now likely means Isaiah Papali'i or Mavrik Geyer will be promoted to the starting side, with one of Daine Laurie, Luron Patea, Casey McLean, Billy Scott or Jack Cole joining the bench from the reserves list.
The other option for Penrith coach Ivan Cleary would be to recall Casey McLean to the outside backs and shuffle the returning Luke Garner into the second-row.
