Felise Kaufusi will have to fight and win at the judiciary if he is any chance to play the State of Origin opener in Adelaide on May 31, after getting slapped with a three-match ban for a high shot.
Kaufusi was sin-binned for a second-minute tackle on former Melbourne Storm teammate Christian Welch in the Dolphins' 24-16 loss at Lang Park on Saturday night.
Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett said he expected Kaufusi not to face a ban, pointing to the $1,800 fine handed down to NSW five-eighth Jarome Luai for pushing a touch judge in Penrith's 15-4 win over Brisbane on Friday.
"He got a fine, didn't he?" Bennett said.
"If you look like being in Origin you are a real good chance of getting a fine or not guilty."
But Kaufusi did not get any special treatment for Origin representatives, charged with a grade-two careless high tackle and facing at least three games on the sidelines with an early guilty plea.
The 31-year-old looked likely to be picked in coach Billy Slater's Queensland side this year after playing the first two Origin games of 2022 before missing the decider to be with his ill father.
If he fights the charge and loses, he will be out for four matches.
After a rollicking start to the season, punctuated by defensive highlights, Kaufusi's ill-discipline has got the better of him a number of times.
This was his third recent similar offence and he has already served a four-week ban earlier this year for a late hit on Newcastle's Jackson Hastings.
"I don't know whether he would do the same thing if he had his time over again," Storm coach Craig Bellamy said.
"The sunshine up here [in Brisbane] mightn't be so good for him. It might make him more aggressive.
"He seems to be on the angry pills, but I can't remember having to pull him back too far with us.
"He was always an aggressive player, especially defensively. You want that out of your players but there has got to be a level where you can't go above. Perhaps he has stepped over that a couple of times this year."
ABC/AAP
