THE Dragons may need to reach the NRLW grand final for star signing Teuila Fotu-Moala to feature again this campaign after the Kiwi Ferns star was hit with a grade two dangerous contact charge by the match review panel.
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The grade two charge - a first for the NRLW - carries a base penalty of 300 points, which would rub her out for the remainder of the season, though it can be reduced to 225 with an early guilty plea.
An early plea would see Fotu-Moala miss the Dragons next two games, with only a possible grand final appearance to follow. Those plans took a hit on Sunday with Daniel Lacey's side falling 14-4 to Brisbane on Sunday.
That loss could leave the Dragons with no choice but to fight the charge stemming from an awkward tackle on Broncos hooker Lavinia Gould midway through the first half.
The club could also plead guilty but challenge the grading in the hope of having the 25-year-old not miss a match.
Should the club fight the charge at judiciary Fotu-Moala would face the same panel as Roosters star Jared Waerea-Hargreaves who will make his second trip to the judiciary in as many weeks to fight a tripping charge leveled following his side's qualifying final win over Souths on Friday night.
The grading and point system directly replicates that of the men's premiership but will no doubt ignite debate as to whether a different system should be put in place given the NRLW has just three regular season rounds.
A three-match suspension amounts to a season-ending one in the NRLW, harsh given the same penalty applies to a 25-round regular season in the men's competition.
A two-game ban would amount to 66 per cent of the NRLW season while, in comparison, Souths prop George Burgess' nine-game suspension for eye-gouging amounted to 36 per cent of the NRL season.
NRL head of football Graham Annesley briefly addressed the matter as part of his weekly football briefing.
"It's not something that's been discussed at this point, it might be something we have to look at," Annesley said.
"l would say that the judicial code is based on the seriousness of an incident rather than the impact that it might have on the person which is a calculation of the seriousness of the incident.
"I take [the] point about the season being much shorter. It hasn't been raised to this point but it may be something we have to have a look at.
"It's not to commit that anything will change but I'm sure we'd be open to discussing the ramifications of that."