The North Queensland league captain Johnathan Thurston is free to play against South Sydney on Monday after successfully defending a detrimental conduct charge from last weekend.
Thurston was charged for an expletive-laden attack on referee Jason Robinson for not ruling a forward pass late in the Cowboys 24-20 loss to Manly at the weekend.
The panel took only 20 minutes to find Thurston not guilty after his lawyer had argued the NRL had kept footage of an incident regarded as detrimental to the game on their website until late Wednesday afternoon, the wider TV audience weren't able to hear the language, and a Brisbane newspaper survey showed 81 percent of readers felt Thurston was innocent.
The not guilty verdict means Thurston is free to play for Queensland in the second State of Origin match against New South Wales on the 16th of this month.