Tumut's Tuinauvai handed five-match ban by Group Nine judiciary.

Tuinauvai could have accepted an eight match ban with an early plea after he was charged with grade three striking during the Blues' win, but elected to plead guilty on Tuesday and attempt to reduce the grading at Wednesday night's judiciary hearing.

Fetongi changed his plea to not guilty at the hearing, and was found not guilty of striking by the three-man panel. However, he was charged with running a distance to get involved in an altercation, which carries a penalty of four matches.

His poor record meant 200 points, or two matches, was added to the penalty. A further 100 was taken off for a guilty plea, with 75 carryover points taking the overall figure to 575 points.

Lloyd was also found not guilty of grade two striking, but also pled guilty to running a distance to become involved in an altercation. His clean record over two previous years meant he was banned for two matches, with 75 carryover points.

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The incident arose after a penalty was given for a lifting tackle on Tumut's Tom Hickson. Tuinauvai and Lloyd were both sent off by referee Shane Bartlett.

It was just Tuinauvai's second game back from a similar incident where he was initially banned for 21 matches, later reduced to ten on appeal, for striking Temora's Paul Ferguson when playing for Kangaroos in a round 14 clash in 2019.

Ferguson later took the issue to court, where Tuinauvai pled guilty to one count of assault occasioning bodily harm and was fined $800 and sentenced to a 12-month community corrections order.

The judiciary chairman declined to comment publicly on the outcomes after the hearings, and both hearings were closed to the media.

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