Latrell Mitchell is facing a minimum of three weeks on the sidelines after being charged with dangerous contact in South Sydney's loss to the Warriors.
Mitchell appeared to extend his elbow into the head of Warriors star Shaun Johnson as the halfback attempted to tackle the Rabbitoh, with Mitchell put on report and the match review committee charging him with dangerous contact, marking his third and subsequent offence.
The 26-year-old was also put on report for a lifting tackle on Tohu Harris, but was not charged.
Penrith great Greg Alexander said in commentary that the act against Johnson was "blatant", later adding: "I don't know what goes through Latrell's mind at times in a game."
South Sydney coach Jason Demetriou shared his displeasure after the match.
"They're both just stupid things," Demetriou said in his post-match press conference.
"He's just got to be better. Simple as that.
"We'll have conversations through the week. As a group we'll be honest as we do every week."
South Sydney currently sits on the bottom of the table with one win from five matches and Queensland Maroons coach Billy Slater said "he's very lucky" to not be facing an even longer ban.
"I think he's very lucky that he's only got three weeks and he's very lucky that Shaun Johnson didn't break his jaw, because [Mitchell would] be missing half the season if [Johnson] did," Slater said on Channel Nine's Sunday Footy Show.
"This is pure frustration about the way he's playing [and] the way his team's playing."
Slater said this is an opportunity for Souths to "throw the cat amongst the pigeons" and "reset their season", suggesting the team could move off-season recruit Jack Wighton from centre to five-eighth, and move current pivot Cody Walker to halfback.