The NRL could look at increasing its punishment for eye gouges after a third player was accused of attacking the face of an opponent in the past six months.
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Canberra forward Hudson Young will miss five matches after entering an early plea for eye gouging Canterbury prop Aiden Tolman on Saturday.
The Raiders rookie faced up to seven games on the sidelines had he unsuccessfully fought the grade-three dangerous contact charge at the judiciary.
It is the NRL's longest suspension since Canberra teammate Iosia Soliola copped five games following his high shot on Melbourne star Billy Slater in 2017.
Young's incident comes after North Queensland forward Josh McGuire avoided a ban despite appearing to rake the eyes of Cameron Munster last month.
Last November, South Sydney prop George Burgess was outed for four matches after also pleading guilty to eye-gouging during a Test match for England.
"It's true that we've had a small number of them," NRL head of elite football Graham Annesley said on Monday.
"One of the objectives of the judiciary code is to provide a deterrent factor to prevent the laws of the game from being breached, particularly misconduct.
"So we do a judiciary review at the end of every year and we adjust the points that apply to some offences if we think that the deterrent factor needs to be dialled up.
"The game has done that successfully over a long period of time, eliminating things like the head high tackle, punching and various other things."
In McGuire's case, the NRL later admitted there was not enough video evidence to charge the Cowboys enforcer based on the two angles available of the incident.
But he still copped a $3350 fine for contrary conduct.
When compared to Young's contact, there was ample evidence of his right hand raking across Tolman's eyes.
Like Munster, the Bulldogs forward also opted not to make an official complaint.
"Every case is different. We spoke about (the McGuire case) when it took place, and we showed the footage" Annesley said.
"The match review committee are in a position where they have to assess the information they have available to them.
"And that's largely video evidence in the absence of any on-field complaint."
In other judiciary news, Manly forward Corey Waddell will miss two games for a grade one striking charge during their loss to Penrith.
Panthers forward Tyrell Fuimaono was also fined for a careless high tackle.
Cowboys hooker Jake Granville has until midday Tuesday to respond to a dangerous contact charge on Gold Coast five-eighth Tyrone Roberts.
Sydney Roosters prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves will head to the judiciary on Tuesday night to fight a dangerous contact charge relating to a hit on Newcastle's Kalyn Ponga.
Australian Associated Press
