Sheard was unsuccessful in his attempt to have a one-game suspension overturned at the Southern Inland Rugby Union (SIRU) judiciary on Tuesday evening.

It means the Northern Irishman will miss the elimination final against Ag College at Exies Oval in Griffith.

Sheard received his third yellow card of the season in Wagga City’s final round win over CSU last Saturday.

The Boiled Lollies attempted to appeal the automatic one-game suspension on the grounds that it was a team penalty.

Sheard accepted the judiciary’s finding but conceded he will find it difficult to watch on from the sideline.

“Being potentially the last game of the season, it is a little frustrating,” Sheard said.

“But at the end of the day, the boys from SIRU made is perfectly clear that any yellow, be it from a team or individual penalty, it counts on the individual binned so they have probably made the correct call.”

Sheard has faith in his Wagga City teammates and believes they can get the job done against Ag College, which would see him return to the field for the following week’s final.

“Definitely, the boys have been playing extremely well,” Sheard said.

“We’re going a lot better than we were midway through the season and we’ll go in with a lot of confidence.”

While the loss of Sheard is a setback, Wagga City will welcome back captain James Maloney from a week’s suspension for the same offence.

Wagga City will meet Ag College at 1.55pm in Griffith on Saturday, followed by Tumut and Leeton in the qualifying final at 3.15pm.