Melbourne Storm prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona has come up short at the NRL judiciary, being found guilty of a Grade 3 careless high tackle.
The prop was charged for a high tackle during the opening play of the Storm's preliminary final win against the Sydney Roosters.
Sent to the sin bin for the tackle, it also knocked Lindsay Collins out, with the Roosters' prop ruled to have suffered Category 1 concussion symptoms.
The tackle was Graded as Grade 3 by the NRL's match review committee on Saturday morning when the charge sheet was released, with the Storm prop heading to the judiciary in search of a downgrade to Grade 1 at an expedited trial on Monday evening.
Instead though, the judiciary, chaired by Geoff Bellew, found him guilty of the Grade 3 charge, his penalty rising to five matches.
It means he will miss this weekend's grand final against the Penrith Panthers in what is potentially a hammer blow for the Storm.
The next three matches of his ban will likely be counted in the Pacific Championships where he otherwise would have been selected for New Zealand, with the final match being chewed up in Round 1 next year.
During a hearing that saw almost 90 minutes of evidence, Roosters' medical staff were quizzed over the tackle, confirming Collins had suffered a concussion due to a blow on the left side of his jaw.
The NRL also claimed there was a high level of force and risk of injury, while the Storm's counsel argued Asofa-Solomona had done as much as he could to minimise the chance of injury.
The tackle was also compared to a shot earlier this year by Queensland centre Valentine Holmes on Blues' prop Payne Haas, where the Cowboy pled guilty to a Grade 1 careless high tackle.
The Storm's counsel also said the speed Collins was running meant Asofa-Solomona had no time to adjust, but that submission didn't sway the jury, who were also told to ignore the Holmes tackle if they believed it was graded incorrectly, and to forget about this hearing being held in grand final week.
THIS IS HOW DUMB THE NRL IS ! THERE TRY TO BUILD THE GAME IN THE INTERNATIONAL LEVELS. BUT THEY KEEP SUSPENDING PLAYERS FROM PLAYING TEST GAMES, MAKE THEM SIT OUT OF THE CLUB NEXT YEAR FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS . TO MAKE THE INTERNATIONAL GAME BETTER IS FOR THE FANS (WHO YOU’S SAY THEY CARE ABOUT AND WHAT THE FANS WANT) ARE THE BEST PLAYERS PLAYING FOR THERE COUNTRYS. IF A PLAYER DOES IT IN THE INTERNATIONAL GAME YEA BAND THEM BUT CLUB FOOTBALL SHOULDN’T HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH AUSTRALIA, NZ, SAMOA, PNG OR OTHER COUNTRY PLAY TEST FOOTBALL. COME ON WE WANT TO SEE THE BEST PLAYER PLAY?