Melbourne Storm fullback Billy Slater has had his contrary conduct charge downgraded by the NRL judiciary after sensationally claiming he was provoked into a brawl after being headbutted three times by St George Illawarra winger Jason Nightingale.
Slater will miss one game after having his charge lowered from a grade two to grade one.
The Storm star alleged he had been head-butted by Nightingale several times as an all-in brawl broke out early in Melbourne's 26-0 win over the Dragons on Monday night.
"There is no way I'd throw a punch unless provoked," he told the judiciary panel members Bob Lindner, Mark Coyne and Don McKinnon.
"I'm not pleading innocent - I know we're role models and it was the wrong thing to do - but it wasn't my mentality to throw punches until I was head-butted three times."
"The first two I let slip until the last one. The last one was deliberate. I've seen him drop his head and go straight for my face."
Slater's representative Geoff Bellew argued: "It's speculation that he (Slater) is responsible for what escalated."
"Had he not been head-butted, he wouldn't haven't thrown a punch."
NRL counsel Peter Kite countered: "There's no head-butt or anything of the kind."
"There was no one to pull away when you decided to run in."
"That's the problem, running in like that."
"It's gone from a push and shove with two or three players to an all-in brawl."
"He ran in in an aggressive way. There needs to be a clear message to all players that they must remain calm."
But the judiciary sided with Slater, outing him for just one match.
The Test custodian will sit out this weekend's clash with the Warriors.
Slater emerged from the one-hour hearing relieved with the verdict.
"I'm happy with the result. We wouldn't have been here if we didn’t think it warranted a downgrade," he said.
"(But) I've let down my young fans and my team-mates for this weekend so I'd definitely think twice (about running in again)."
Asked if he was surprised the match review committee had apparently missed three head-butts, Slater replied: "I don't know if they missed them. That's just one thing that we've brought up."
"I'm not saying I did the right thing throwing punches, but there was an element of being provoked."