Greg Bird is facing between six to eight weeks on the sidelines after he was charged by with a grade two dangerous throw on Kiwis winger Jason Nightingale in Australia's loss to New Zealand at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Under match review rules, a prior similar offence in the last two years adds 50 per cent loading to the base penalty for a charge. Bird has been cited for three similar offences in the past 12 months, and therefore the base penalty of 325 points for his most recent charge has been increased by 150 per cent.
Greg Bird's Dangerous Throw history:
Incident 1: May 10, 2014 - Round 9 - Dangerous Throw grade 3 (downgraded to 2) – 2 matches
Incident 2: July 9, 2014 - State of Origin III - Dangerous Throw grade 1. Early guilty plea taken – 2 matches
Incident 3: August 31, 2014 - Round 25 - Dangerous Throw grade 1. Early guilty plea taken – 1 match
Incident 4: May 3, 2015 - Anzac Test - Dangerous Throw grade 2.
The potential suspension places Bird in doubt for the opening two matches of the 2015 State of Origin series, with the Gold Coast forward needing to challenge the grading of the charge at the judiciary if he's any chance of lining up for the Blues at ANZ Stadium on May 27.
From the same game, Sam Thaiday is set to miss one week for the Broncos, cited for a grade one dangerous contact charge for his challenge on Martin Taupau.
Josh Reynolds will spend a week on the sidelines following a tripping charge, with prior offences meaning the NSW Origin hopeful will miss the Bulldogs' trip to 1300SMILES Stadium after taking the early guilty plea.
Storm prop Felise Kaufusi is also set to miss one week, with a grade one dangerous contact charge picked up during Tonga's loss to Samoa coupled with 57 carryover points likely to rule the young front-rower out of Round 9. Kaufusi could miss two matches if he fights the charge at the NRL judiciary and loses.
All players will have until midday on Tuesday to enter their plea.
