In the aftermath to Kade Snowden reluctantly accepting a seven-game suspension for a grade-four shoulder charge that broke Cowboys hooker Ray Thompson's jaw in two places, Gidley said he felt he let Willie Mason down by not supplying the match review committee with a medical report when Mason suffered a broken cheekbone against the Roosters last month.

Roosters back-rower Sonny Bill Williams served a two-game suspension after pleading guilty to a grade-three careless high tackle, in which he struck Mason in the face with his shoulder, in the Roosters' 28-12 victory at Hunter Stadium.

Mason suffered a fractured cheekbone and torn calf muscle in that match and has not played since but has been named to return, as a replacement for Snowden, in Newcastle's game against Brisbane on Friday night.

''What upsets me the most about this, what the NRL and the match review committee have now said to us is that when they're reviewing an incident or an innocuous tackle, it's quite clear now that the severity of the player's injury, or the outcome of that innocuous tackle, is what determines the grading,'' Gidley said. ''It's not so much the tackle any more, it's how severe the injury is from the outcome of that tackle, and I don't think other clubs are aware of that.

''What frustrates me the most with that, when Willie Mason had his cheekbone fractured and was going to be on the sidelines for a month, if I knew that was the case, … I'd have sent a doctor's report down to the match review committee to let them know the injury status of our player, and I would have sent a picture down of him lying in a hospital bed with plates being put in his face.

''I feel like I've let Willie Mason down by not following that procedure.''

Thompson used Instagram on Sunday to post a photo of himself in his hospital bed, soon after he had surgery to have plates and screws inserted into his jaw.

Under the NRL judiciary code of procedure, match reviewers cannot charge a player as a result of their injuries, but once he is charged, they can attach a higher grading as a result of them. Gidley is certain Williams would have been charged with a higher grade had he notified the NRL of Mason's facial injury.

Still angry Snowden will miss the rest of the season, Gidley insisted the hit on Thompson was not as dangerous as shoulder charges graded three or lower.

Bulldogs second-rower Frank Pritchard will serve a two-game ban after pleading guilty to a grade-two shoulder charge on Souths' Bryson Goodwin last Friday. Gidley believed Pritchard's tackle was worse than Snowden's but it was graded lower because Goodwin was not injured as badly as Thompson. ''If you look at some of the examples of grade-three shoulder charges through the course of the year, Kade's sits well behind those, and that's not just my opinion but the opinion of a lot of people I've spoken to,'' he said. ''Bryson Goodwin had a mild concussion but played out the rest of the game, so that's a grade two …''