Tariq Sims ruled out of State of Origin decider after guilty verdict

Sims opted to fight the grade two charge in a bid to feature in his third State of Origin clash for NSW.

The judiciary ultimately, however, ruled against the 29-year-old, determining the contact to Michael Morgan's head last Friday night was careless and avoidable.

Sims cut a dejected figure as he left the hearing, with the star forward expressing his disappointment with the verdict.

"Obviously not a great outcome for myself," Sims said.

"But I would just like to thank the panel for their time.

"Obviously it's a pretty emotional time for myself. I'm just going to take time away now and be with my family and daughters."

The case was put forward by NRL counsel Peter McGrath that Sims made late, careless and and dangerous contact to Morgan's head in carrying out the tackle.

This argument was rebutted by Sims who claimed that while he made contact with Morgan's head, the first point of contact was with Morgan's shoulder before incidental contact was made to the head.

Sims argued the tackle was a front-on tackle with both arms raised in a wrapping position.

The contact, thus, was an unfortunate rugby league incident, rather than a careless and dangerous tackle.

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This is a view the judiciary ultimately disagreed with, with the panel backing McGrath's view that the contact was unavoidable.

Despite the guilty verdict, Sims did receive a minor victory with the judiciary panel downgrading the charge to a grade one dangerous contact charge. As a result, the 29-year-old will now miss just one game.

That was a bittersweet ruling, however, as Sims would have been free to play for NSW had he pleaded guilty to the charge, but sought a downgrade to grade one.

The blow is a sizeable one for the Blues with Sims' St George Illawarra and NSW teammate Tyson Frizell saying his absence will be felt.

"It's a tough loss," Frizell said. "You don't want to see any of your players miss out through suspension.

"He was really great for us in game two, he filled that middle role quite well and he can play edge too. He's got that versatility in his game, which is much needed in our squad."

With Sims ruled out, the Blues will recall Newcastle prop David Klemmer after he was controversially omitted when Brad Fittler named his team on Monday night.

Fellow prop forward Paul Vaughan is confident the Knights star will make a sizeable impact for the Blues next Wednesday night.

"David's a class player," Vaughan said. "He came back on the weekend and ran for 200 metres and played a really strong game.

"That's what he brings, he's world class and he's got a lot of experience playing for Australia and NSW. It's a fair bloke to replace Tariq with."

Sims' suspension comes after the Dragons were forced to name an undermanned team for Thursday night's clash against the Melbourne Storm.

Patrick Kaufusi was named to make his club debut against his former side while Jai Field and Darren Nicholls will line up in the halves.