Five eighth James Maloney has been found guilty by the NRL judiciary panel, but of a grade one rather than a grade two dangerous contact charge, with the Sharks star to miss this weekend’s game against the Raiders.
Maloney had pleaded not guilty of the grade two charge, which was for dangerous contact on Titans centre Konrad Hurrell in the 88th minute of the Sharks golden point draw on Monday night, with the panel finding him guilty but of the lesser charge.
Had he been found guilty of grade two dangerous contact, with the 300 point penalty associated with the charge, Maloney would have faced three weeks on the sideline.
If Maloney had taken the early guilty plea and declined a judiciary hearing, he would have missed two matches.
Maloney was represented by Nick Ghabar and accompanied at NRL Central by Sharks coach Shane Flanagan and Club CEO Lyall Gorman.
The Sharks play the Canberra Raiders at Southern Cross Group Stadium on Saturday with a replacement for Maloney to be determined later in the week.
Kick-off to the game on Saturday is at 5.30pm
