Dolphins lock Max Plath will miss two weeks of action with an early guilty plea for his hip-drop tackle on Gold Coast winger Phil Sami.
The match review committee issued Plath with a grade-three dangerous contact charge for the tackle, which came during the Dolphins 30-14 win at Cbus Super Stadium on Saturday.
Plath was sent to the sin bin in the 27th minute of the clash at Robina, while Sami played on after receiving treatment.
Titans forward David Fifita, playing his first NRL game of the season as he returned from a pectoral tear, was also placed on report for a trip on Dolphins winger Jamayne Isaako late in the match but escaped a charge.
Plath was clearly distraught after his challenge on Sami and Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett threw his support behind his player.
"They will have to look at it but it is a difficult area that hip drop," Bennett said after the match.
"Max Plath hasn't got a dirty bone in his body so it was never intentional. We don't coach it and we don't talk about it. We don't practise anything like that.
"If it has gone wrong, it has gone wrong, and we will have to pay the consequences."
With Plath in the bin the Dolphins rallied after going behind 10-0 early. They did not concede a point while the lock was off the field.
"You have got options (in that situation)," Bennett said.
"You can feel sorry for yourself or not let your teammate down. Max is such a valued part of the team and the boys think so highly of him that I think they all said, 'We are not going to let him down'.
"I couldn't ask them to have responded any better than they did."
St George Illawarra prop Blake Lawrie faces a fine after being charged for pulling the hair of Manly forward Josh Aloiai during the Dragons' 20-12 win on Saturday.
