Melbourne forward Max King has pleaded guilty to a hip drop tackle, with an NRL judiciary panel to determine his grading and suspension at a hearing on Tuesday night.

King and the Storm entered the plea on Tuesday afternoon after the NRL’s match review committee referred him directly to the panel for the tackle on St George Illawarra prop Blake Lawrie.

King’s body “dropped” onto the bottom half of Lawrie’s leg in the Storm’ NRL win over the Dragons on Sunday.

Lawrire was forced from the field soon afterwards.

King was charged with dangerous contact but the controversial tackle was deemed too serious to be given a grading.

The NRL has targeted the tackle for eradication this season.

King’s fellow Storm forward Jesse Bromwich was suspended for a week earlier this season for a grade one dangerous contact charge for a similar offence.

The 23-year-old King is now looking at anything beyond three weeks, which is the base penalty for a grade-three offence.

The incident sparked controversy off the field, with former Dally M winner Greg Alexander on Fox League’s commentary claiming there was “intent to injure”.

Storm coach Craig Bellamy later slammed Alexander’s comment as “ridiculous”, insisting no player in the NRL would go out to purposefully hurt a rival.

The Storm have previously grown frustrated of question marks being asked over their tackling techniques almost routinely late in the season.