Melbourne enforcer Nelson Asofa-Solomona is facing a two-week ban for the elbow to Jake Simpkin’s face that cost the Storm dearly against Manly.

The Melbourne prop was on Sunday hit with a grade-two dangerous contact charge, after lashing out with his elbow in the Storm’s 18-16 NRL loss.

He will miss two matches with an early guilty plea, or a third game on the sideline if he fights the charge and loses.

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The charge adds to a poor judiciary record for Asofa-Solomona, who missed last year’s grand final through suspension and has five charges since the start of 2024.

It also means he will miss Thursday night’s clash against the Sydney Roosters, after being sin-binned for collecting Lindsay Collins high in the opening tackle of last year’s preliminary final.

Asofa-Solomona’s first-half elbow on Simpkin proved costly on Saturday night, given a Harry Grant try out of dummy-half was denied by the bunker due to the contact.

When asked for his views on the incident, Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy was typically blunt: “I’ve got an opinion, but I ain’t going to say it.”

Simpkin was deemed to show category-one concussion symptoms and ruled out for the match, prompting questions over whether Asofa-Solomona should have been sin-binned.

As things stand Simpkin will be ruled out for 11 days and miss Manly’s clash with Canterbury next week, but the Sea Eagles are considering challenging that with the belief the hooker was not concussed.

Fellow hooker Lachlan Croker is already out with a concussion, leaving Manly stretched in that position.

“It’s disappointing, obviously we got the penalty but we lost Jake for the game,” coach Anthony Seibold said.

“It was ruled category one from the bunker, but our testing suggested it was category two. Jake doesn’t have a mark on his face.

“Nelson is a big man so he copped a fair elbow from him, so he stayed down because of that. But he wasn’t concussed.”

Meanwhile Simpkin himself avoided a ban for a high shot on Grant Anderson, and can instead pay a $1000 fine with a grade-one charge.

Grant was also not charged over the late contact on Luke Brooks’ legs that ultimately handed Manly the two-point win.

Canterbury winger Jacob Kiraz and prop Max King were charged over a dangerous throw and crusher tackle respectively in their win over St George Illawarra, but can both pay fines and avoid bans.