Sydney Roosters utility Daniel Mortimer admits the NRL premiership favourites will sorely miss Luke O’Donnell if the damaging back-rower is suspended for a spear tackle.

O’Donnell is facing three to five weeks on the sidelines, meaning he won’t play again before the finals unless the competition-leading Roosters successfully challenge a grade-three dangerous throw charge against him on Wednesday.

The former Test forward with a long judiciary history was cited on Tuesday after upending Wests Tigers’ Tim Simona in a first half tackle during the Roosters’ 56-14 win at Allianz Stadium on Monday night.

An early guilty plea would sideline O’Donnell for three weeks.

“If we do lose him, we’ll definitely miss him,” Mortimer said on Tuesday.

“He’s a great player and we’ve got a pretty young pack so his experience and the old head on his shoulders in the middle is really something that our forwards will miss, and us in the middle.”

Souths’ Jeff Lima and Ashton Sims of North Queensland have already accepted one-match bans relating to incidents at the weekend.

O’Donnell and the Roosters have until midday Wednesday to decide what to do.