Greg Inglis free to play in NRL preliminary final after guilty plea for crusher tackle

Greg Inglis is free to play in South Sydney's NRL preliminary final against the Sydney Roosters after he pleaded guilty to a grade one dangerous contact charge.

Inglis was sanctioned for the first-half crusher tackle on St George Illawarra's Tim Lafai in Saturday night's 13-12 win but the low grading means he escapes suspension with the early guilty plea.

The Rabbitohs wasted no time in entering that on Sunday afternoon, confirming on their website Inglis would do so less than an hour after the charge sheet was released.

The news will come as a huge relief for the Rabbitohs, who won only three of six games without Inglis through the middle of the year while he was out with a broken thumb.

The charge is the same as the one handed to Sydney Roosters centre Latrell Mitchell for his tackle on Josh Dugan in week one of the finals, but carryover points and weighting ruled the NSW State of Origin centre out of next week's final when he was found guilty at the judiciary.

In comparison, Inglis has no carryover points or weighting given he hasn't been charged with any offence within the past two years.

The Dragons' Jeremy Latimore was also hit with a grade one dangerous contact charge for his collision with Rabbitohs winger Campbell Graham.

Latimore's collision as Graham jumped to collect a kick took the Rabbitohs' legs from under him and he was lucky to avoid a neck injury when he flipped and landed heavily.