Round 15 charges: Sims pleads not guilty, off to judiciary

George Burgess has entered a guilty plea to his dangerous contact charge but will still front the NRL judiciary on Tuesday night, while NSW Blues forward Tariq Sims will also appear to challenge the charge that could rule him out of the State of Origin decider.

Rabbitohs prop Burgess was referred straight to the judiciary over a charge of dangerous contact - head/neck (eye contact) on Wests Tigers hooker Robbie Farah.

Sims was hit with a grade two dangerous contact charge following the Dragons' win over North Queensland for a tackle that left Michael Morgan concussed. If Sims wins his case he will be free to represent NSW at ANZ Stadium. If he loses he will miss three matches.

Burgess's hearing will begin at 6pm Tuesday, while Sims is scheduled to face the judiciary at 7pm.

Morgan left the field for an HIA after the 45th-minute tackle in Friday night's game at WIN Stadium and did not return.

The Dragons trailed 10-6 at the time and came back to win 22-14.

The Dragons host the Storm at WIN Stadium in round 17 on July 4, while the Origin decider is scheduled for July 10.

Melbourne prop Jesse Bromwich was also charged with dangerous contact to the head/neck in relation to an incident involving Roosters prop Siosiua Taukeiaho in the 15th minute of the Storm's 14-12 win on Friday night in Adelaide.

Bromwich has avoided suspension after taking an early plea.

Eels forward Peni Terepo has been hit with a grade-two reckless high tackle charge following an incident involving Jordan Rapana in the 28th minute of Parramatta's win over Canberra in Darwin.

Terepo will miss three weeks if he enters an early guilty plea but risks a four-match ban if he challenges the charge at the judiciary.

Burgess faces at least 10 matches on the sideline if found guilty of an alleged eye-gouge on Wests Tigers hooker Robbie Farah in Thursday night's clash at Bankwest Stadium.

Burgess has been referred to the judiciary without a grading on a dangerous contact charge (eye contact) and has 50 per cent loading from a previous eye-gouge ban over an incident involving New Zealand captain Dallin Watene-Zelezniak in England at the end of the last season.

With the base penalty for grade 3 dangerous contact being 500 demerit points, which equates to a five-match suspension, Burgess is facing a longer ban as the match review committee considers the incident to be of a higher grading than detailed in the NRL judiciary code.

As each grade is scaled up by 200 demerit points for dangerous contact charges, the base penalty for a grade 4 offence would be 700 demerit points and any penalty imposed on Burgess would include a 50 per cent loading for the incident in last year's Test which cost him a four-match ban.

The judiciary is free to determine a different grade to what the match review committee has recommended.

The England forward missed the third Test of the series against the Kiwis and the first three rounds of this year's Telstra Premiership.

It is understood Burgess apologised to Farah, a former Souths teammate, immediately after the match on Thursday night, won 14-9 by the Tigers.

However, the match review committee considered it be more serious than the 2019 eye-gouge by Canberra forward Hudson Young on Canterbury prop Aiden Tolman, which resulted in a five-match suspension.

pan66.com has seen unreleased footage of the Young incident, which shows him digging his thumb into Tolman's eye, and the Raiders rookie pleaded guilty to a grade three dangerous contact charge and accepted a five-match ban after loading and carry-overs from previous offences were added.

Young would have been suspended for seven matches but he received a 25 per cent discount for an early plea – an option which will not be available to Burgess as his case has been referred directly to the tribunal.

Cowboys lock Josh McGuire has twice this season been fined for grade one contrary conduct after putting his hand in the face of opponents but there was insufficient video evidence to suggest either incident was an eye-gouge and warranted a more serious charge of dangerous contact.