Manly Sea Eagles veteran halfback Daly Cherry-Evans will head to the judiciary on Tuesday evening in a bid to free himself to play next weekend.
He and star second-rower Haumole Olakau'atu were both slapped with a Grade 2 dangerous throw charge for a tackle gone wrong during Manly's victory over the Parramatta Eels on Friday evening at Brookvale.
The charges - which were both first offences on each players rolling 12-month judiciary record - attracted two-match bands each with an early guilty plea, or three matches if they lost at the judiciary.
Olakau'atu has accepted his early guilty plea, and as a result will miss Manly's two upcoming fixtures in Round 9 and 10 against the Canberra Raiders and Dolphins.
Cherry-Evans, on the other hand, will contest the grading of his charge, while pleading guilty.
If he is successful in reducing the charge to a Grade 1 dangerous throw, then the Manly and Queensland captain will be eligible for a $1000 fine.
If he is unsuccessful however, he will receive the increased three-match penalty that will also see him ruled out in Round 11 during what could shape as a crunch match at the start of magic round against the Brisbane Broncos.
The tackle - on Parramatta forward Shaun Lane - saw both players involved in dumping the attacker onto the ground well above the horizontal.
It appeared as if Olakau'atu would have the harsher case to answer after he was sin binned and appeared to do the lifting in the tackle, but Cherry-Evans was deemed equally to blame by the match review committee.
It will now be up to the NRL's judiciary to decide on Tuesday evening whether the correct version of events was the one painted by the MRC or the on-field referee who only elected to sin bin the forward.
The hearing will take place at Moore Park.
