Daly Cherry-Evans has avoided the first ban of his 14-year NRL career after successfully downgrading his dangerous throw charge at the judiciary.
The Manly halfback escaped with a $750 fine on Tuesday and is free to play against Canberra on Friday night after arguing he was not the main man responsible in the tackle on Shaun Lane.
But Manly will still be without Haumole Olakau'atu for two matches after he accepted an early guilty plea for his role in the same tackle during last week's win over Parramatta.
In an 83-minute hearing, Cherry-Evans claimed he had used the same tackling motion countless times throughout his career, as he did against Lane on Friday night.
But he said Olakau'atu's influence in the tackle meant for the first time in his career an opponent ended up in a dangerous position.
"I started to tackle him in the way I have used many times before with the bigger fellas," Cherry-Evans said.
"That would be to use them running at me and then at some point trying to use my leg to leverage them to bring them to the ground.
"It's not the first choice of tackle, but it's definitely a tackle I have used in this situation before.
"It's something I have done a lot of times, feel very comfortable with and have never hurt anyone before."
Cherry-Evans' lawyer Nick Ghabar argued Olakau'atu had caused the danger, by grabbing Lane's buttocks and lifting his body into the air.
Ghabar also claimed diminutive halfback Cherry-Evans would have required "superhuman" strength to counteract the momentum of Lane and Olakau'atu.
The 85kg Cherry-Evans joked he would not "weight shame" Olakau'atu and Lane by guessing their size, but was adamant there was nothing he could do to stop the throw.
"They're two really big fellas," Cherry-Evans said.
"I genuinely don't believe I could have helped mitigate the risk of what was happening in that tackle."
The panel of Tony Puleta and Greg McCullum quickly agreed, rejecting NRL counsel Lachlan Gyles' claims Cherry-Evans was the main person at fault in the throw.
"The combination of the use of the leg to break the balance of the player, creates a fulcrum," Gyles unsuccessfully argued.
"And then the use of (Cherry-Evans)' body elevates him, creating the vulnerability of the dangerous throw."
Only charged once before and never banned across 357 NRL matches, Origins and Tests, Cherry-Evans was like a kid in a candy store walking through NRL HQ before the hearing.
He walked away just as happy, with his success a massive relief as the Sea Eagles fight to stay in the NRL's top four.