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Queensland coach Billy Slater has been left lamenting Felise Kaufusi's "silly" high shot, with the Maroons regular set to be rubbed out of State of Origin I.

Dolphins second-rower Kaufusi was on Sunday charged with a grade-two careless high tackle on Melbourne's Christian Welch.

With his previous judiciary record, the best he can accept is a three-match ban with an early guilty plea.

It means the only way he will be able to play in the May 31 Origin series opener is if he successfully contests the charge at the judiciary on Tuesday night.

However, that would risk a fourth match on the sidelines if unsuccessful, meaning he would miss Game II of the Origin series as well.

Kaufusi was a certainty to be named in the Maroons' team on Monday morning for Game I, before his high shot on Welch in the Dolphins' 24-16 loss on Saturday night.

Slater said he would speak to Kaufusi before deciding whether to consider him for selection.

"I thought it was a silly act," Slater said on Nine's Sunday Footy Show.

"We'll just have to wait and see over the next 24 hours what Felise wants to do. Whether he wants to fight it and make himself eligible for selection."

If Kaufusi is ruled out, it will likely open the door for David Fifita to return to the Maroons team either on the bench or in the second row.

Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett pleaded Kaufusi's case following the loss to the Storm.

Bennett felt Kaufusi's high shot was "no big deal" as Welch was not concussed and did not leave the field.

He pointed to the $1800 fine handed down to Penrith and NSW No.6 Jarome Luai for pushing a touch judge on Thursday night in the Panthers 15-4 win over Brisbane.

"He got a fine, didn't he?" Bennett mused.

"If you look like being in Origin you are a real good chance of getting a fine or not guilty."

Bennett was asked if he believed a fine should be sufficient, for a shot he said wasn't vicious or malicious.

"I would say for that. If he is charged it would be no more than that," Bennett said.

Kaufusi's ban marks his second of the season, after also copping four games for a late shot on Newcastle's Jackson Hastings earlier in the year.

"I don't know whether he would do the same thing if he had his time over again," Kaufusi's former coach Bellamy said of the tackle on Welch.

"The sunshine up here mightn't be so good for him. It might make him more aggressive.

"He seems to be on the angry pills, but I can't remember having to pull him back too far with us.

"He was always an aggressive player, especially defensively.

"You want that out of your players but there has got to be a level where you can't go above. Perhaps he has stepped over that a couple of times this year."

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