Andrew Fifita's hopes of a Test recall have been saved after the NRL panel took just three minutes to have the Cronulla prop's dangerous throw charge downgraded.
Fifita was found guilty of a grade two dangerous throw and will miss two games after successfully arguing that he helped cradle Newcastle hooker Adam Clydsdale into a safe position. St George Illawarra's Tyson Frizell will also miss two games after having his grade five charge upheld at the NRL judiciary on Wednesday night.
Had Fifita been unsuccessful he would have been banned for six games which would have ended not only his Test aspirations but ruled him out of the opening Origin game.
Fifita was at times fiery during the 70 minute hearing. He was warned by NRL judiciary chairman Geoff Bellew to answer and not ask them when he was addressed by NRL prosecutor Peter McGrath.
Fifita said it was a "risk" contesting the charge.
"Very relieved but it's still two weeks on the sidelines," Fifita said. "I thought it was worth the risk. Grade three is quite significant. It was a big gamble. You could see on the video at least I attempted to get to a comfortable position and in the end I did."
Fifita argued throughout the hearing that he had a "duty of care" to place Clysdale in a safe position and aimed to put him on his back. He wanted to perform a "stapler" tackle on Clysdale which would have seen Fifita hit Clysdale on the chest and drive him backwards in the ground.
Fifita also said he had placed one arm under Clysdale's head to protect him.
The panel of Chris McKenna, Sean Garlick and Mal Cochrane were shown six comparable tackles including Junior Paulo's grade three charge from earlier this year.
In Frizell's case, the panel took 15 minutes to quash his desire of a downgrade. Frizell was whacked with the highest careless high tackle charge after hitting Tim Browne high in St George Illawarra's 31-6 win against Canterbury last Sunday.
Frizell was disappointed with the outcome.
"It wasn't the outcome we looked to come out of it," Frizell said after the hearing. "But [I have to] look forward and hopefully play better footy when I hit the park again."
He will have 75 carry over points and miss the Dragons next two matches against Brisbane and the Roosters.
During the hearing Frizell said he was going for a "ball and all tackle".
"I was going for a normal kick off running with the defensive line," Frizell said. "[Teammate] Jack De Belin hit him through the middle."
When asked why he did not change his tackling technique Frizell replied: "I don't think I had much time. From the time Jack had him through the middle he had come down from a fair way. By that stage he came down a fair way and collided with my forearm."
McGrath noted Frizell's arm was not clinched. He showed three angles of the tackle.
The Dragons sports scientist Billy Hulin presented a display to show that Browne was travelling 25 kilometres per hour. Hulin noted 18 kilometres was considered high speed in the NRL and Frizell had 80 milliseconds to make a decision.
The panel were shown three comparative tackles of lesser grades. Bellew told the panel to consider the injury sustained by Browne.
McGrath said Frizell was under a "higher duty of care" for the way he wanted to complete the tackle and said the tackle was "carelessness of the very high order".
