NSW and North Queensland prop James Tamou has predictably chosen to enter an early guilty plea to a dangerous contact charge, meaning he’s free to line up for NSW in State of Origin II.

Tamou was on Tuesday slapped with a grade-one charge by the NRL match review committee for his 76th-minute hit on Eels forward Pauli Pauli, the same day he was named in Blues coach Laurie Daley’s side for the clash in Melbourne.

He will be free to take his place for NSW alongside five-eighth Mitchell Pearce, who also avoided suspension after pleading guilty to grade-one dangerous contact over a tackle on Michael Gordon in the Roosters’ upset loss to Cronulla on Sunday.

Parramatta forward Manu Ma’u will miss two NRL games thanks to an early guilty plea for his raised knee to the face of North Queensland’s Ray Thompson.

Ma’u was handed a grade-two dangerous contact charge for the incident that left the Cowboys hooker with a suspected fractured cheekbone just before halftime in the Eels’ 36-30 loss to the Cowboys on Monday night.

The 26-year-old was looking at three matches on the sidelines if he fought the charge unsuccessfully, but will return for Parramatta’s round-17 clash with the Wests Tigers after missing games against Melbourne and St George Illawarra.

Wests Tigers’ Sauaso Sue is free to play having opted for an early plea for a grade-two careless high tackle on Gold Coast’s Aidan Sezer late in the Tigers’ 27-20 loss on Friday.

But Manly forward Justin Horo will miss one match for his tackle on Brisbane’s Darius Boyd in the Broncos’ 44-10 thumping of the Sea Eagles.

Newcastle’s Kurt Gidley will fight his dangerous contact charge for a tackle on Raiders five-eighth Blake Austin, which carries only 90 points with an early guilty plea.

However, Gidley has 51 carry over points due to a prior offence in the past two years which means he’ll miss one match if unsuccessful.