Sydney Roosters' hooker Sam Verrills will be rubbed out for two weeks after he failed to clear himself of a Grade 2 high tack on Tuesday evening at the NRL judiciary.
After almost 20 minutes of deliberating following an hour of evidence, Verrills was found to be guilty of the Grade 2 charge, which will now increase his penalty to two weeks.
Verrills was originally offered one week for the tackle on Brian Kelly during the Roosters' nail-biting victory over the Gold Coast Titans in Saturday's elimination final.
He went to the judiciary seeking a downgrade and the chance to play this weekend in a sudden-death semi-final against the Sea Eagles, but will now miss not only this game, but the preliminary final if the Roosters manage to post a victory without their dummy half.
Verrills' defence hinged on precedent, with Junior Paulo only being handed Grade 1 charge for another high tackle on Kurt Mann over the weekend.
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The defence of Verrills, led by lawyer James McLeod said that there was low force, that Verrills didn't drive his shoulder or step into contact, and that teammate Sitili Tupouniua forced Kelly sideways into Verrills' shoulder.
"There was never any launch of the right shoulder of player Verrills," McLeod said to the judiciary panel.
"All he does is hold his position and stand upright and execute a catching and wrapping motion … That's part of the reason that his culpability is right at the low end of the spectrum."
McLeod reminded the panel that Paulo was handed a Grade 1 charge for his high tackle which he believed generated more force and was less in control.
That didn't sway the panel though, who went with the NRL prosecution, who argued that a miscalculation of the tackle from Verrills had caused direct contact with the head of Kelly.
Trent Robinson is now faced with a tricky choice over who to play at hooker on the weekend. He can either make a direct swap by bringing Ben Marschke in off the reserves list, or shift Lachlan Lam to hooker and play Sam Walker in the halves.
