Tigers star’s big judiciary risk

Justin Olam risks missing the rest of the season after the Wests Tigers announced that they would be seeking a downgrade at the judiciary on Tuesday night for a tackle that saw the veteran sent off last week.

Olam was hit with a grade three careless high tackle charge for a shot on North Queensland’s Heilum Luki that saw him sent off in the second half at Leichhardt Oval.

The PNG international would have missed three matches if he’d taken the early guilty plea, but he’s hoping to have that reduced to one game if they can successfully have the charge downgraded.

If he’s unsuccessful, Olam will miss four matches which means he won’t play again this season given the Tigers only have four games left as well as a bye as they look to avoid a third-straight wooden spoon.

“We’re going to fight this for Justin and for our club,” Tigers chief executive Shane Richardson said.

“We believe the severity of the grading is harsh and we are going to do what we can to have this reduced.

“It’s about fighting for what you believe is right, and so that’s what we are doing.”

Meanwhile, Brisbane’s faint finals hopes are all but over after scans confirmed stars Payne Haas and Ezra Mam are set to be sidelined after both were forced off with serious injuries during the first half of Saturday’s loss to the Titans.

The Broncos are languishing in 14th spot and would need to win their remaining games and hope a stack of results go their way to have any chance of sneaking into the finals.

“Scans confirmed Payne has a lisfranc injury while Ezra has a syndesmosis issue,” Broncos head of performance David Ballard said.

“We will consult specialists in coming days, with both players unavailable for selection this weekend while we map out a way forward.”