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Sport
Scott Bailey

Broncos on rival Kaufusi's side at NRL judiciary

Dolphin Felise Kaufusi (R) will fight his ban for a late tackle on Newcastle's Jackson Hastings. (Darren Pateman/AAP PHOTOS) (AAP)

Even Felise Kaufusi's cross-town rivals at the Broncos are hoping the Dolphins forward can successfully fight his dangerous contact charge at the NRL judiciary and line up in the first Battle of Brisbane.

Kaufusi was sin-binned for his late hit on Jackson Hastings in the Dolphins' win over Newcastle on Friday night, with Hastings also requiring time off the field for an HIA.

The Dolphins second-rower was subsequently charged with a grade-two dangerous contact charge, which brings three matches on the sideline.

He will try to downgrade to a level-one charge and aim to instead incur a fine for the hit. If unsuccessful, he would miss a fourth match.

Kaufusi has been in excellent form to begin the Dolphins' first season and even Broncos hooker Billy Walters says he'd be disappointed if his side misses the chance to square off with the premiership winner.

"It's always good to have your best players playing. It'll make the game even better," he said.

"It'd be good if he could get off and play, as long as he doesn't put one of those hits on me."

Kaufusi's charge has drawn widespread debate across the NRL, with comparisons to Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii escaping with a fine for a similar late hit for the Sydney Roosters in round two.

Elsewhere, David Klemmer has avoided a charge over an apparent cannonball tackle in Wests Tigers' loss to Canterbury.

Klemmer was placed on report after being the third man in and hitting Raymond Faitala-Mariner low in a tackle on Sunday.

The hit prompted immediate criticism from pundits including Andrew Johns, concerned over the potential impact of cannonball tackles, in which contact is made below the knees while a ball-carrier is stationary.

"It's breaking legs, doing knees. It just has to get out of the game," Johns said on Nine.

Tigers coach Tim Sheens defended his prop afterwards.

"He got up and limped, and then walked pretty comfortable and ran a few plays later, so I would argue there wasn't that much in it," Sheens said of Faitala-Mariner.

"But still. If it has to be above the knees, it looked more at the knees. But it wasn't below the knees."

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