The NRL has admitted Nelson Asofa-Solomona should have been sin-binned and banned for his high shot to the head of Parramatta's Makahesi Makatoa.
Asofa-Solomona was able to escape with a fine for the hit, which went without penalty on the field in Melbourne's 28-24 loss to the Eels.
In a statement, the NRL's new-look match review committee claimed the contact to Makatoa's head was of a low-to-moderate nature, as the prop fell backwards in the tackle.
"The player's actions were deemed as careless whilst the risk of injury was assessed as low with Makatoa getting to his feet and playing the ball quickly," review committee chairman Luke Patten said.
"There was a clear and quick drop in height from Makatoa as he is tackled by two other Storm players.
"This mitigating factor was taken into account when assessing the final grading."
But the NRL's head of football Graham Annesley conceded on Monday that assessment was wrong, and a grade-two charge with a maximum two-week ban was warranted.
"We think that the referee should have put Nelson in the sin-bin for the incident," Annesley said.
"We are confident that the match review committee have been through the right process ... but we don't think that they've placed enough emphasis on the degree of force.
"Management were of the view that the level of force was more than (low to moderate).
"And we think that that level of force was enough to push the charge into the grade-two category."
Under new NRL rules, chairman Peter V'landys and chief executive Andrew Abdo can ask the review committee to re-assess incidents that go without charge.
But they have no scope to ask the committee to review matters that have already been charged, ensuring Asofa-Solomona's grade-one fine will stand.
The NRL's admission comes ahead of the biggest judiciary case of the year on Tuesday night, with Newcastle second-rower Mitchell Barnett referred straight to the panel for an elbow to Penrith player Chris Smith's jaw.
Barnett has since apologised to Smith for the off-the-ball hit, and has pleaded guilty in a bid to take a week off the eventual ban while being represented by legal eagle Nick Ghabar.
At least a month on the sideline seems likely, given the match review committee deemed it worse than a grade-three offence that carries with it a five-week ban.
Anything beyond eight games, which has been called for by former NRL hooker Cameron King, would make it among the longest three bans in the NRL in the past decade.
Newcastle players did their best to put the issue out of their mind on Monday, with fellow backrower Lachlan Fitzgibbon already out long-term with a knee injury.
"What happens from here on now is out of our control, there is no point harping on it or talking about it," teammate and NSW State of Origin prop Daniel Saifiti said.
"Barny has gone through enough.
"Let's focus on this week and try and get a win back against a good Sharks outfit away from home."
