Smith handed six match ban

Newcastle forward Jeremy Smith will miss six weeks of action after being hit with a lengthy ban.

Smith failed in his bid to convince the NRL judiciary to downgrade his grade 3 dangerous contact charge for his tackle on Penrith forward Matt Robinson in Saturday’s victory at Hunter Stadium.

The 33-year-old New Zealand international was banned for six matches.

It means that Smith, who appeared to slam Robinson’s head into the turf, will miss Friday’s Anzac test between Australia and New Zealand in Canberra and the following five NRL rounds for the Knights.

“We are really disappointed with the outcome but we got a fair hearing here tonight,” said Newcastle chief executive Matt Gidley.

“We were confident in coming here tonight so we as I said, we are disappointed it wasn’t seen the same way by the Judiciary.”