Jack de Belin has failed in his quest to have a dangerous contact charge downgraded by the NRL judiciary on Tuesday evening.
Despite the tackle - which will see Manly Sea Eagles winger Christian Tuipulotu sidelined for at least two and possibly three weeks with a knee injury - being missed at the time by the on-field referees, de Belin was penalised and sin binned at the next stoppage on play.
The NRL's match review committee then revealed on Sunday morning that de Belin had been hit with a Grade 2 charge. Given his poor record with three prior offences on his record in the last 12 months, de Belin's penalty was set to be three weeks with an early guilty plea or four weeks if he went to the judiciary and lost.
The Dragons' prop will now face the four weeks after his quest to have the charge downgraded - which would have resulted in a $3000 fine - failed on Tuesday evening.
The panel of Paul Simpkins and Tony Puletua took just 15 minutes of deliberations after almost an hour of evidence to uphold the match review committee's initial verdict.
That the tackle was missed by the referee in live play wasn't lost on the defence in their evidence while also suggesting that the tackle wasn't what was tpyically defined as a hip drop with a fluid motion.
The prosecution relied on a Manly medical report on Tuipulotu, with NRL legal counsel Lachlan Gyles saying the level of force in the tackle - which he said was moderate - had to be considered.
The four-week ban will see de Belin only eligible to play one more game this season. He will miss games in Round 23, 24, 25 and 26 against the Parramatta Eels, South Sydney Rabbitohs, Melbourne Storm and New Zealand Warriors, before being eligible to return in Round 27 against the Newcastle Knights.