Cronulla centre Ben Pomeroy’s NRL finals series is in doubt after he was referred straight to the NRL judiciary on a charge of dangerous contact with North Queensland’s Johnathan Thurston.

Pomeroy on Monday became the first player to feel the wrath of the NRL over last week’s decision to ramp up penalties for shoulder charges which result in dangerous contact to the head or neck of players.

The 28-year-old hit Thurston late with a shoulder charge in the 76th minute of Sunday’s loss to the Cowboys – putting him in extreme doubt to face Canberra in Sunday’s elimination semi-final.

Pomeroy also has 73 carry-over points and a 20 per cent loading for a prior non-similar offence in the past two years.

But Sharks skipper Paul Gallen refused to concede that his teammate would not be lining up against the Raiders, saying the Sharks will be able to mount a strong defence at the judiciary on Wednesday night.

“I haven’t conceded that he’s been found guilty yet,” Gallen told reporters on Monday.

“He gets to go and plead his case which I think is positive for him and hopefully he’ll be ok.

“I think the fact that he gets to go in and plead his case is pretty positive.

“Obviously with a lot of charges these days you don’t get to go in, you’ve got to plead guilty a lot of the time before hand.”

The match review committee also charged Parramatta’s Reni Maitua with a grade two careless high tackle, which will result in a two-match ban unless he successfully fights the charge.