Greg Bird will take his chances at the NRL judiciary on Wednesday night in a bid to play for NSW in the State of Origin series.
Bird's club Gold Coast announced on Tuesday the Blues enforcer will front the judiciary to seek a downgrade on his grade two dangerous throw on Kiwi winger Jason Nightingale in the Kangaroos' Test loss in Brisbane on Sunday.
Due to his poor judiciary record, Bird faces an eight-week ban if the charge is upheld by the judiciary panel, which would rub him out of the entire Origin series.
However, if Bird is successful he will miss only two NRL games and be eligible to play in Origin I in Sydney on May 27.
Bird has been an important part of the Blues side for the past few seasons and has played 15 Origin games in all since his debut in 2007.
Kangaroos and Blues prop Aaron Woods said the loss of Bird would be a blow for NSW.
"I didn't really see the tackle I was jogging back in defence and all I saw was a bit of a scuffle," Woods said at training on Tuesday.
"I hope he gets off. He has been a mainstay of the pack for the past four or five years. He is one of the leaders up there, him and 'Gal' (Paul Gallen).
"It will be tough if he isn't there. But Beau Scott and 'Hoffy' (Ryan Hoffman) are playing pretty well at the moment. NSW is lucky that we have a lot of back-rowers."
Embattled incumbent Blues five-eighth Josh Reynolds' hopes of holding onto his NSW No.6 jersey took a blow on Tuesday when he accepted a one-match tripping ban for a clumsy effort on Tariq Sims in City's loss to Country at Wagga Wagga on Sunday.
That means the out-of-sorts Reynolds will miss Canterbury's visit to Townsville to play North Queensland on Saturday.
It leaves him just one more game, against the Sydney Roosters, to impress Blues coach Laurie Daley before he selects his team for Origin I.
Kangaroos forward Sam Thaiday took the early guilty plea on a grade one dangerous contact from Sunday's Test, rubbing him out of Brisbane's round nine NRL fixture against Penrith at Suncorp Stadium on Friday.
In the remaining judiciary charge from the representative weekend, Melbourne forward Felise Kaufusi will miss Sunday's clash with Parramatta in Sydney after taking the early plea on a dangerous contact charge in Tonga's Test against Samoa last Saturday.
BIRD-BRAINED
GREG BIRD'S SUSPENSIONS SINCE HIS NRL DEBUT IN 2002
2004: Striking - 10 matches
2004: Dangerous throw - 3 matches
2005: Dangerous throw - 2 matches
2011: Striking - 1 match
2014: Dangerous throw - 2 matches
2014: Dangerous throw - 2 matches
2014: Dangerous throw - 1 match
2015: Dangerous throw - ?
*No bans resulted for Bird after judiciary appearances in 2003 and 2013.
** Source: Fox Sports Stats
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