North Queensland co-captain Johnathan Thurston has called on the NRL match review committee to make an example of Newcastle prop Kade Snowden for the shoulder charge that could sideline Ray Thompson for the remainder of the season.
Snowden was on Saturday night sent off for a shoulder charge which left Thompson with a fractured jaw - the Cowboys hooker undergoing surgery on Sunday with a recovery timetable of 6-8 weeks.
The Cowboys, who snuck into the top eight on the back of the 26-6 win over the Knights, would need to reach the grand final for Thompson to play again in 2013 in what shapes as a devastating blow for the club.
Thurston said player welfare had to be paramount, intimating a long suspension could act as a deterrent to players still using the shoulder charge which was banned before the start of the season.
On Friday night Canterbury pair Tony Williams and Josh Reynolds were both put on report for shoulder charges in their loss to South Sydney.
"They brought the rule in - no shoulder contact to the head to prevent these types of injuries and to (protect) player welfare," Thurston told Triple M.
"I just hope the judiciary really puts him to the sword and makes an example of him so that we don't see other players in this position."
Asked whether Snowden deserved to be sent off, Thurston said:
"If he didn't send him off there'd be an uproar about (how) he should have been sent off.
"I've got to commend the referees on the way they've handled it."
The Knights, who have won just one of their past five matches, can ill-afford to lose Snowden for the last two weeks of the regular season as they attempt to secure a top eight finish.
Already without injured front-rower Willie Mason, the Knights need to win both of their remaining matches - against Brisbane and Parramatta - to guarantee a finals berth.
Snowden only recently returned from a two-game ban for running with a raised knee in the round 19 win over Penrith.
