The Sydney Roosters will be without prop Zane Tetevano for their NRL preliminary final against Brisbane after he copped a one-game suspension for a high shot on Gold Coast's Ben Nakubuwai.
Tetevano had his high tackle charge downgraded from reckless to careless at the NRL judiciary on Tuesday night however he did not escape a ban, while Manly's Darcy Lussick had a tripping charge thrown out.
Tetevano was facing a five-match ban after charged by the match review committee with a grade three reckless high tackle charge.
He successfully had the charged downgraded to a grade three careless charge but will only miss one week, despite Titans rookie Nakubuwai being knocked out for more than a minute and having no recollection of the incident.
By contesting his charge, Tetevano risked ending his season but will instead he will be free to play in the Roosters' next finals game.
Should Trent Robinson's side beat the Broncos on Friday, they will advance to week three, within one game of the grand final.
If not, they will be pitched into a sudden death play-off.
"I'm grateful at being able to plead my case. I'm stoked about the outcome," Tetevano said.
"Foremost, I want to apologise to Ben and I knew that I had a minor error in my tackle technique."
The judiciary panel of Sean Garlick, Tony Puletua and Bob Lindner agreed with Tetevano's defence counsel James McLeod, who argued it was a textbook tackle which had been slightly misjudged.
Lussick is free to play in the Sea Eagles' elimination final against Penrith on Saturday after beating a grade one tripping charge.
Lussick felled Panthers hooker Wallace in the Sea Eagles' last-round dismantling of the Panthers on the weekend however the judiciary agreed the contact was accidental.
"I'd just like to say I got a fair hearing, I'm happy with the result," Lussick said.
"I can't wait to come out and play this weekend and hopefully all the Manly fans cross the bridge and get there for a big game."
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