During a bizarre judiciary hearing on Wednesday night, the panel of Royce Ayliffe, Mal Cochrane and Chris McKenna took just 13 minutes to find the 25-year-old guilty of a careless high tackle on Tedesco before his counsel challenged the grading – but only after being alerted to the option by Ayliffe.

Judiciary chairman Justice Geoffrey Bellew ordered the panel to "disregard the medical evidence put in front of you" and the multiple media reports when determining James' guilt, but were allowed to take into account a bloodied Tedesco had four plates inserted into his jaw during an operation on Monday night when assessing the grading of the careless tackle charge.

James was hit with a grade-two charge, but successfully had it reduced to grade one on Wednesday. He will have just 90 carry-over points and won't miss Saturday's clash against wooden spooners Newcastle at Hunter Stadium.

The medical report presented to the judiciary panel estimated Tedesco would miss four to eight weeks.

James, one of the game's most penalised players, will have to walk a tightrope during the Gold Coast's charge to the finals given the carry-over points he has now assumed. But Titans fans will be ecstatic he will be free for the clash against the struggling Knights in Newcastle.

"He will [have to be careful]," Henry said. "We're disappointed in one regard ... but the speed these things can happen at in the game means there was no malice on Ryan's behalf. It is what it is. He'll have carryover points, but he'll be able to play on Saturday."

James told the judiciary he was trying to get the area underneath Tedesco's chest for "leverage" to lock up the ball and was hoping to be "on the same level" as the falling fullback.

But judiciary counsel Peter McGrath argued James had plenty of time to adjust his tackle, claimed to be on the "lower level" of carelessness, given he had timed his run before tackling Tedesco, who had caught a towering bomb.

"He did take his eye off player Tedesco in that last split second, but that's where his carelessness lies," McGrath said. "The contact was not unavoidable."

James' counsel, former judiciary chairman Jim Hall, argued the prop's tackle had none of the hallmarks of a careless shot.

"What he did not anticipate was player Tedesco would drop considerably to avoid the tackle," Hall said. "It was impossible [to change the tackle] in that fraction of a second. It's like a blink of an eye. The mind cannot work that fast in a blink of an eye and therefore the body cannot react."

Tedesco is unlikely to feature again this season unless the Tigers go deep into the finals. Their cause was hurt when Jarryd Hayne booted a last-gasp field goal at Campbelltown that has left the joint venture with a mountain to climb to make their first finals series since 2011.