Sea Eagles set to roll the dice at the judiciary ahead of weekend.
Manly Sea Eagles prop Richie Fa’aoso will face the NRL judiciary this week in a bid to get his likely four week suspension downgraded.
Fa’aoso is the first player this season to be charged under the news rules which seek to outlaw the shoulder charge from the game.
The Manly player was slapped with a grade-three dangerous contact after he hit the Gold Coast’s Ashley Harrison late and off the ball, resulting in the Titans’ backrower to be taken from the field.
Fa’aoso could have spent three weeks on the sidelines with an early guilty plea but Manly officials will be hoping to have his charge knocked down to a grade two, he will receive only a 250-point penalty.
After taking the early guilty plea into account, that would reduce his ban to just one match, while a downgrade to a grade one would allow Fa’aoso to play against Wests Tigers on Thursday night.
Key to the Manly defence will be their argument that it was accidental head contact that did the damage to Harrison.
The only major change for the Tigers is the inclusion of winger Matt Utai at the expense of injured youngster Marika Koroibete.
Wests Tigers will be looking to build off their impressive 31-18 win against Parramatta last round while the Sea Eagles will be looking to bounce back after their narrow loss to the Titans.
Sea Eagles: Brett Stewart, Jorge Taufua, Jamie Lyon (c), Steve Matai, David Williams, Kieran Foran, Daly Cherry-Evans, Brenton Lawrence, Matt Ballin, Brent Kite, Anthony Watmough, Justin Horo, Jamie Buhrer. Interchange: Jesse Sene-Lefao, Joe Galuvao, David Gower, Tom Symonds.
Tigers: Tim Moltzen, Joel Reddy, Blake Ayshford, Chris Lawrence, Matthew Utai, Benji Marshall, Jacob Miller, Aaron Woods, Robbie Farah, Jack Buchanan, Braith Anasta, Liam Fulton, Adam Blair. Interchange: Ben Murdoch-Masila, Ava Seumanufagai, Matthew Bell, Eddy Pettybourne, Masada Iosefa
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