STORM officials are set to drop plans to challenge the controversial suspension of captain Cam Smith in a bid to stop the saga becoming a distraction in the lead up to Sunday's grand final, but they will have to deal with another judiciary case if Brett White is today charged by the match review committee.

The premiers have until Wednesday to formally appeal the two-match ban imposed on Smith for a grapple tackle. It had been thought the club may seek a Supreme Court injunction to enable the Australian hooker to play, as the Sydney Swans successfully did for Andrew Dunkley in the 1996 AFL grand final.

But with White now facing a nervous wait to learn whether he has been charged after being placed on report for knocking out Cronulla prop Ben Ross in the seventh minute of last Friday night's crushing 28-0 win, Storm management appear likely to abandon any bid to try and have Smith freed to play in the premiership decider.

The match review committee will today request additional camera angles to determine whether White raised his elbow to strike Ross after initially attempting to fend him off with a forearm.

Any charge will require the NSW Origin prop to successfully defend himself at Wednesday night's judiciary if he is to play in the grand final.

After being sent off for punching Ross in the round-two clash with the Sharks and suspended for four matches, White has 25 carryover points and will receive a 50per cent loading on the penalty for any striking charge.

Despite it being the second time in as many games he has clashed with Ross, who was also sent off in round two and received a seven-match ban for felling Melbourne halfback Cooper Cronk in a late tackle, White denies that there is anything personal between him and the former Queensland representative.

Cronk (dangerous throw) and veteran centre Matt Geyer (grapple tackle), who will retire after Sunday's grand final, will also come under scrutiny from the match review committee but neither is expected to be charged.

The Storm will be bolstered by the return of New Zealand Test forward Jeremy Smith from a one-match ban over a "chicken wing" tackle on Brisbane's Sam Thaiday in the same incident which Cam Smith was charged and some club officials were still hopeful on the weekend that a way could be found for the 24-year-old Queensland Origin skipper to also play.

Melbourne officials did not rule out an appeal during the extraordinary post-game press conference on Friday night that resulted in the club being fined $50,000 for comments by chief executive Brian Waldron and coach Craig Bellamy but the Herald was told yesterday that such a move was now unlikely.

Broncos coach Wayne Bennett yesterday said he could understand the Storm's frustration over the suspension of Smith and accused the match review committee of letting other players off over similar incidents during the year.

"We had a similar situation with Justin Hodges when he got two weeks for contrary conduct with the referee and we found three or four incidents where players from other clubs had done similar acts and hadn't even been reported and hadn't been charged," Bennett told ABC radio.

"That's what gets you angry and I could see where Craig was coming from. The problem is the match review committee don't do their job properly. I just saw the tackle by young [Stuart] Webb on the Manly guy … and they're the things we need answers for in regard to why no one did anything about that tackle."

But match review committee chairman Greg McCallum said the panel had looked at the Webb tackle in Manly's opening finals win over St George Illawarra and believed it was different to the one by Smith because there was no second movement.