Thurston gets pre-Origin breather
Queensland halfback Johnathan Thurston will need to win a case at the NRL judiciary to play again before State of Origin II on June 16.
Thurston has been hit with a grade one detrimental conduct charge for his expletive-laden complaint to referee Jason Robinson about a forward pass in the final minute of North Queensland's 24-20 loss to Manly on Saturday night.
The Test No.7 will miss Monday night's ANZ Stadium clash with South Sydney regardless of whether he enters the early guilty plea or unsuccessfully defends the charge at the judiciary.
With Origin players to be stood down from round 14 games - when the Cowboys meet Canberra - Thurston's only chance of playing again before game two of the series is to win a case at the judiciary.
The struggling Cowboys, currently 14th on the NRL ladder, have until 12pm on Tuesday to decide whether they will fight the charge.
CEO Peter Parr did not immediately return AAP's call on Monday evening.
Thurston launched into an expletive-laden tirade after Robinson ruled a forward pass and reportedly abused touch judge Adam Gee, on whose advice the call was made.
ABC Radio apologised to listeners after the 'f' word was heard on air during Thurston's rant.
On being told by Robinson the information from Gee had taken a while to reach him, Thurston reportedly responded: "Took a while for f*** sake. You should get man of the match."
The incident came with the Cowboys frustrated by their inability to convert several chances to points as they stormed home against Manly.
After a fractious night in Townsville, seven under-20 players have also received high grade charges following a wild 80th-minute brawl in the Cowboys-Manly national youth cup curtain raiser.
The three Cowboys and four Sea Eagles youngsters have been charged with contrary conduct, with two receiving maximum grade five bookings and the group facing a total of 29 weeks on the sidelines.
Parramatta captain Nathan Cayless will escape a ban with the early plea after he received a grade one dangerous throw charge for a lifting tackle on St George Illawarra's Brett Morris.
Eels teammate Timana Tahu will also avoid a suspension with the early plea after a grade one charge for dangerous contact to the head or neck.
South Sydney's Eddy Pettybourne misses no action after a grade one careless high tackle charge in Sunday's win over Penrith.
Meanwhile, Parramatta have escaped a penalty from the NRL over their late withdrawal of Nathan Hindmarsh from Friday night's match against St George Illawarra.
The Eels pulled Hindmarsh from the match after he had re-injured his sternum in a collision during the warm-up.
A player who has been named on the official team sheet - which is supplied one hour before kick-off - cannot pull out of a match with a pre-existing injury unless both clubs agree.
"In the end St George did agree to the change," NRL chief operating officer Graham Annesley told AAP.
"We're going to be reminding all clubs of the processes to be followed so that we can hopefully avoid similar confusion going forward.
"You've got to have some process for being able to make a legitimate change and that revolves around both clubs agreeing to it so that one club can't accuse the other of gamesmanship."
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