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Latrell Mitchell's free shot at clearing his name for the Sydney Roosters' preliminary final has come up short after being found guilty of dangerous contact a marathon 100-minute NRL judiciary hearing.
Mitchell attempted to have his one-game ban overturned on Tuesday night, but will instead miss the Roosters' next finals match as a result of Saturday night's crusher tackle on Josh Dugan.
The star Rooster received 100-point base penalty, which would normally allow him to escape suspension.
But 75 carryover points from a previous charge has forced the judiciary to suspend him.
In a drawn-out hearing, the NSW State of Origin centre argued he left Dugan's head enough space between his right arm and chest to slip out as he fell to the ground and even called upon Roosters' defence coach Craig Fitzgibbon to explain.
But the three-man panel of Bob Lindner, Sean Garlick and Tony Puletua disagreed, siding with the NRL's view that he'd been careless in his actions and left the Sharks' centre at risk of injury as he brought him down with the full weight of his body and with no room to move for Dugan's head.
According to NRL.com, Mitchell did not deny at the hearing that he had "jumped" in making the tackle on Dugan, and conceded he "did not execute (the tackle) the way I wanted to".
"I just tried to be dominant, get him to his back and use as much power as I could," Mitchell said when called to give evidence.
"In your desire to make that dominant tackle you've failed in your [duty of care for him]," NRL counsel Peter McGrath told Mitchell before the panel.
Earlier on Tuesday afternoon, Dugan told reporters that he was still sporting a "stiff" neck from the tackle and had been concerned for his safety during the heat of the moment, but was otherwise unconcerned about the incident.
The Roosters have the week off after defeating Cronulla at the weekend, and will play the winner of the semi final between the South Sydney Rabbitohs and St George Illawarra Dragons.
The Roosters' centre will be free to play in the grand final if the tri-colours qualify.
The club says it will name his replacement on Tuesday before the preliminary final, but it could be a tough assignment with the Roosters missing both Mitchell and its prop, Dylan Napa.
Mitchell had been instrumental in the Roosters' run to the minor premiership and preliminary final, having scored 16 tries, made 18 linebreaks and busted through 101 tackles.
Napa is also missing the preliminary final through suspension after a heavy tackle on Brisbane hooker Andrew McCullough.
AAP/ABC
Topics: rugby-league, sport, nsw, sydney-2000