At the conclusion of the match, the NRL match review committee immediately referred Hopoate's case straight to the NRL Judiciary. On 22 March, Hopoate had his case called up to the judiciary, his lawyer and coach attempted to argue that he was doing nothing more than "trying to go for a shoulder charge" and that his raised arm was just an attempt to protect his ribs. His contrition carried little weight with the panel and ultimately his defence failed to convince anyone that he had done nothing wrong and he was given a seventeen-game suspension. With his season over, his loyal club that had stood by him through many of his career indiscretions decided they had no other choice than to terminate his contract with immediate effect on 23 March 2005.