NSW forward Wade Graham faces missing a long-awaited State of Origin debut next week after being charged by the NRL match review committee.
Graham has been charged with a grade-one careless high tackle on North Queensland's Johnathan Thurston, and carryover points means he will only be able to play in next Wednesday night's Origin II if he can beat the charge at a judiciary hearing.
In better news for the Blues, forward James Tamou escaped being sanctioned for an apparent shoulder charge on NSW teammate Andrew Fifita in the same match on Monday night.
Despite news of the charge, Graham was still travelling with the Blues to their Coffs Harbour Origin camp on Tuesday.
A hearing is unlikely to be brought forward to Tuesday night, meaning NSW coach Laurie Daley will have to sweat on the result for almost 36 hours if Graham contests the matter, as seems certain.
On the cusp on NSW selection for a number of years, Graham was finally selected on Monday night, just minutes after the game in which he put the high shot on Thurston.
Earlier on Tuesday, Queensland veteran Corey Parker put pressure on the match review committee to charge both Graham and Tamou.
"We're all in the same business, so whether they hold true to the consistency, we don't know," Parker told Sky Sports Radio's Big Sports Breakfast.
"We'll wait and see."
Graham's charge will add to judiciary drama that has often dominated discussion in the lead-in to Origin matches.
In 2011, Thurston was forced to clear his name on a grade-two contrary conduct charge after he made contact with a referee that would have ruled him out of an Origin clash.
The charge was among issues which prompted then Queensland coach Mal Meninga's infamous newspaper column which labelled NSW powerbrokers as "the filth and rats that continue to linger in the sewers and dark corners".
There was also anger when NSW star Jarryd Hayne escaped suspension at a hearing and played an Origin match in 2010 when he beat a striking charge after an apparent headbutt on Melbourne's Queensland fullback Billy Slater.
