South Sydney's Paul Carter has been successful in downgrading his dangerous contact charge on Dragons forward Mike Cooper to a grade one, which will allow him to play the Bulldogs on Good Friday.
The judicial council presented two separate grade one incidents to argue that Carter's tackle should remain a grade two, arguing the Rabbitohs back-rower's tackle was one which offered an unacceptably high risk of injury due to the fact Cooper was standing upright in the tackle and couldn't defend himself.
However the defence was able to demonstrate the consistencies between Carter and the other grade one examples – namely the initial contact in each tackle, which was above the knee – leaving the four-man panel to rule in favour of the downgrade.
Having risked a two-week suspension if his downgrade was unsuccessful, Carter left Rugby League Central with 75 carryover points.
"I'm really happy with the result and I can't wait to play on Friday," Carter said.
"When I thought I wouldn't be able to play I was pretty shattered so to get the result in my favour was really pleasing. It should be a great game [against the Bulldogs]."
