North Queensland skipper Johnathan Thurston is free to face South Sydney next Monday after successfully fighting a detrimental conduct charge at the NRL judiciary on Wednesday.

Thurston contested the grade one charge via video link from Townsville after he was sanctioned following an expletive-laden rant at referee Jason Robinson.

The Queensland and Australia halfback was furious at a forward pass ruling by Robinson in the dying stages of the struggling Cowboys' 24-20 loss to Manly on Saturday, and sarcastically told the official he should be "man of the match" following the rant.

In one of the judiciary's most bizarre hearings, Thurston's representative Colin White first argued that there was no case to hear, as the offence could not be considered to be detrimental to the game.

White said the fact the NRL had kept footage of the incident on their website until nearly 1530 (AEST) on Wednesday afternoon, proved his argument.

However, judiciary chairman Paul Conlon ruled - in a 40-minute hearing without the presence of the three-man panel - White could not use a survey conducted by Brisbane newspaper Courier Mail's website that showed that 81 per cent of readers felt Thurston was innocent as part of his argument.

White was allowed to argue that the wider audience watching the game on Fox Sports on Saturday night were unable to hear the language Thurston used towards Robinson, with the dialogue only heard by supporters at Dairy Farmers Stadium with the Sports Ears radio facility.

The panel, made up of Michael Buettner, Brad Clyde and Mal Cochrane, finally heard NRL prosecutor Peter Kite contest that Thurston harassed Robinson with a tirade of abusive language.

Kite also said that the "sustained and repeated use of language constituted conduct that was detrimental to the game" and that players had a duty to show restraint when questioning a referees' decision.

He also said that editorial control of the website was controlled by Telstra, not the NRL, and that the vision of the incident was taken down at its request.

However, White said that the allegation of detrimental conduct was a serious accusation to make against Thurston.

He argued such a charge should take only in match fixing, brawling, a verbal tirade against the NRL in front of the media or a player removing his trousers during a game.

White also said that the game thrived on passion, emotion and that bad language had been part of sport "since Adam played football in the garden with Eve."

He also said that viewers of Underbelly would hear worse language than what Thurston used towards Robinson.

The panel took 20 minutes to find Thurston not guilty and Conlon said that it would be an incentive for the clubs to debate with the NRL board matters that constitute misbehaviour.

White shot back that: "It may be an incentive for the NRL to check their website regularly."

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