Paul Bowman will miss Saturday's important clash with Canberra after failing in his bid to beat a dangerous throw charge at the NRL judiciary on Wednesday night.
Bowman, represented by football manager Kelly Egan and coach Graham Murray, argued by video link from Townsville that his spear tackle on Wests Tigers forward Bryce Gibbs was unintentional and brought about due to the presence of team-mate Carl Webb.
"My intention was to drive him in an east-west direction but the force exerted by Carl Webb's 110kgs worked against me," he said.
Egan attempted to have video of a similar Bowman tackle earlier in the game submitted but judiciary chairman Greg Woods rejected the application.
"The focus is on the particular incident in question," Woods told Egan.
The judiciary panel of Darrell Williams, Scott Tronc and Mal Cochrane took just minutes to return a guilty verdict.
The loss of Bowman, who has played 196 games across 13 seasons, is a huge blow to the Cowboys ahead of the Raiders clash.