Josh Jackson's Origin hopes remain alive – relying on a tackle by teammate Josh Reynolds to help him successfully have his dangerous throw charge downgraded at the NRL judiciary on Wednesday night.
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Jackson had pleaded guilty to a dangerous throw on Penrith's Jamie Soward but asked the judiciary panel of Bob Lindner, Bronson Harrison and Royce Ayliffe to have the charge downgraded from a grade two to a grade one during a one-hour hearing.
His legal team relied on six comparative tackles, including Reynolds' tackle on Brent Tate in Origin last year, which was downgraded from grade two to a grade one.
Blues coach Laurie Daley and NSW chief executive Dave Trodden were on hand to support Jackson, along with Bulldogs staffers, including Raelene Castle and Des Hasler.
Jackson was relieved to be free to play in the Origin decider.
"It's never good to miss any footy, but it's great to have the chance to be selected again," Jackson said. "We took the plea on a grade-one charge; it wasn't a good tackle. I've been penalised for it. Hopefully I can adjust my technique in the future.
"I was pretty concerned. You don't like to miss any footy. I was a chance of missing three games for the Bulldogs and a possible Origin game.
"We looked at a few past videos and we were pretty confident. I've got to be picked [for Origin] first. It will be a good match. [The Bulldogs] have done everything for me. I'm very grateful and very relieved."
Jackson, who will still miss Canterbury's game against Melbourne on Monday night, did not give evidence.
The panel was shown three angles of the tackle.
Jackson's lawyer Nick Ghabar argued Bulldogs teammate Greg Eastwood had been "equally responsible" for Soward ending up in a dangerous position. Eastwood was slapped with a grade-one charge.
Ghabar also said Soward's teammate James Segeyaro had contributed to the positioning of the Panthers No.7 after Segeyaro laid a hand on Soward.
Ghabar and NRL legal man Peter McGrath agreed the tackle started as a "good driving tackle".
Ghabar said Eastwood's "involvement was substantial".
"Other factors changed the character of the tackle beyond Jackson's control," Ghabar said. "Segeyaro is there to lend his weight to stop Soward. It's a force in another direction. Without the involvement of [Segeyaro and Eastwood] this tackle could not physically go wrong."
The panel took 11 minutes to keep Jackson's Origin dream alive.
McGrath added that the tackle was "dangerous and exposed Soward to injury".
"What we've seen is Eastwood has made a contribution but the arm has slid off the shoulder area of the tackled player," McGrath said. "His contribution is not nearly as significant as Jackson's.
"Jackson has a moderate to high level of control. It was Jackson whose contribution was much greater. The risk of injury was moderate to high. He had minimal if any ability to protect himself."
