State of Origin 2016: Wade Graham must beat judiciary charge to make Origin debut

WADE Graham will need to beat the judiciary to make his Origin debut after he was hit with a grade one careless high tackle charge.

Wade Graham has been hit with a high tackle charge.

WADE Graham’s dream Origin debut rests in the hands of the judiciary after the Cronulla forward was charged with a Grade 1 careless high tackle by the NRL match review committee on Tuesday morning.

Graham was slapped with an 84-point penalty for his late hit on North Queensland star Johnathan Thurston during the Sharks’ three point win over the Cowboys on Monday night.

The Cronulla forward already has 33 carry over points, meaning he would miss one match even with an early plea.

He must now fight the charge at the judiciary if he any hope of taking to the field for NSW at Suncorp Stadium next week.

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The Sharks have the bye this week, so Graham would have to sit out Origin as part of his penalty if found guilty.

It’s a crushing blow for the in-form forward, who was last night named by coach Laurie Daley to make his maiden appearance for NSW in Origin II.

Dragons forward Tyson Frizell and Panther Bryce Cartwright could now come into contention to replace Graham in the back-row for the Blues.

Graham will face the judiciary on Wednesday.

Sharks coach Shane Flanagan says he believes Graham should escape suspension.

“I don’t think he would have slept last night. There would have been a massive amount of emotion in him, now that there’s a dark cloud hanging over him. I just hope he gets the opportunity to play. There was no malice and no intent.’’

Graham hit Thurston with a high shot.

“We’re not quite sure what’s happening there. Fingers crossed for Wade there’s no charge. But if there is, we’ll deal with it if and when it happens,” Blues coach Laurie Daley said on Tuesday.

“We haven’t contacted anyone at this stage. Certainly in our mind we know what we want to do if something did occur, but we’ll wait and see.

“It’s a distraction that you don’t need, but it’s one that you’ve just got to cope with. We’ll probably find out when we arrive in Coffs and then have to make arrangements for whatever happens from there.”

Fellow Origin forward James Tamou escaped suspension for his shoulder charge on Andrew Fifita.