Melbourne's minor premiership tilt has taken a hit after Will Chambers accepted a three-game NRL suspension for a crusher tackle on Parramatta star Jarryd Hayne.
Chambers on Monday took the early guilty plea for his grade three dangerous contact charge, ruling him out until the Storm's second game of the finals.
Should the Storm finish in the top four and win in the first week of the post-season, it would mean the Storm centre may not feature until the grand final qualifier.
Chambers has been widely panned for his first-half tackle on Hayne, where he had Hayne locked from behind before putting weight on the neck of the Eels winger on the way down.
He risked a five-game ban had he attempted to contest the charge at the judiciary.
Instead the Australian and Queensland State of Origin representative has been rubbed out for three matches, further decimating a Storm side already undermanned by injuries.
Coach Craig Bellamy will on Tuesday name a side to take on Gold Coast without Suliasi Vunivalu (hamstring), Nelson Asofa-Solomona (ankle) and Brandon Smith (knee).
Captain Cameron Smith is waiting scans on a back problem suffered against the Eels.
The Storm are top of the table but equal on 32 points with the Sydney Roosters and South Sydney with two games remaining in the regular season.
In other judiciary news, Sydney Roosters co-captain Boyd Cordner can avoid a suspension for a dangerous throw with an early guilty plea after being cited with a grade one charge.
Cordner was hit with a grade one dangerous throw charge for lifting Canberra forward Luke Bateman past the horizontal in the first half of the Roosters' loss on Sunday.
Penrith trio Viliame Kikau, Waqa Blake and Tyrone May, as well as Newcastle pair Shaun Kenny-Dowall and Danny Levi, all copped fines for punching during a melee on Saturday.
Kenny-Dowall had his fine reduced after being granted a seven-year incident-free discount.
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