Dylan Napa’s NRL season could be over unless his Sydney Roosters teammates make the grand final without him, after he pleaded guilty to dangerous contact on Brisbane’s Andrew McCullough.

The Queensland State of Origin prop has been suspended for three weeks for the hit that knocked out his Maroons teammate in the Roosters’ 22-8 loss to the Broncos.

It means he will miss the Tri-colours’ final-round clash with Parramatta on Saturday night, as well as the first week of the finals.

He will then be unavailable for the Roosters’ following game, whether it be a semi-final in week two or the preliminary final if they win through the opening weekend’s qualifying final.

If the latter happens he will be ineligible to return to the field before the grand final, and that’s only if the Roosters make it that far.

However the plea saved him risking a fourth game on the sideline, which he would have faced had he attempted to fight or downgrade the charge.

Regardless, Napa’s absence threatens to be a huge blow for the Roosters, who desperately need his direct play and grunt through the middle.

McCullough left the field in a medicab following the head-first contact in the tackle from Napa, and was ruled out of the game.

The hooker revealed on Sunday that Napa had already apologised for the hit, which was eerily similar to the head-on-head contact the Rooster had with Bronco Korbin Sims in a tackle earlier this year.

He escaped charge after being sin-binned for that incident, but NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg later admitted he thought the match review committee got that decision wrong.

Meanwhile the Roosters confirmed on Monday that Napa’s fellow prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves is this week expected to return to full contact training after recovering from a rib injury.