Newcastle's Mitchell Barnett could face a ban of more than a month after being sent straight to the NRL judiciary for elbowing Penrith's Chris Smith in the head.
Barnett became the first player sent off this season for his off-the-ball contact in the Knights' 38-20 loss on Saturday which put Smith out of the game after he failed an HIA..
The back-rower was hit with a dangerous contact charge on Sunday, with the NRL match review committee deeming it worse than a grade-three offence.
Given grade-three charges carry a minimum ban of four matches with an early guilty plea, there is every chance Barnett's suspension could extend well beyond five matches when he appears on Tuesday night.
The charge came amid calls for Barnett to be banned for up to two months over the incident, dubbed "ugly" and "stupid" by Cooper Cronk.
"The NRL is trying to clean up the game and make it safer by penalising any high contact," former St George Illawarra, Parramatta and North Queensland hooker Cameron King tweeted.
"If that bloke doesn't get 8+ weeks suspension for dog shot then the game should be embarrassed."
Penrith five-eighth Jarome Luai claimed after the match the send-off was well deserved, while Knights coach Adam O'Brien refused to comment on the hit specifically.
"I'll tell you what Mitch doesn't need is me coming out kicking him publicly, he is part of our family and we'll deal with it behind closed doors.
There is no-one feeling any worse than Mitch at the moment.
"He is naturally (shattered). He needs the support of his teammates. The angles were hard to see so I haven't had a good look.
"But I can't comment on it anyway."
Meanwhile Melbourne prop Nelso Asofa-Solomona and Gold Coast counterpart Moeaki Fotuaika have both avoided bans for respective charges.
