BILLY Slater's contrary conduct charge was dropped last night after the Melbourne fullback sensationally claimed he was provoked by a barrage of headbutts from St George Illawarra winger Jason Nightingale.

The Innisfail product’s stunning defence means he will miss just this weekend’s match against New Zealand Warriors instead of the two-game ban he had been facing for his role in the all-in brawl which marred Monday night’s 26-0 win to the Storm.

The Test custodian told the NRL judiciary he only unleashed a flurry of punches on Nightingale after the Dragon headbutted him three times.

"The first two (headbutts) I let slip, until the last one, the last one was deliberate, I’ve seen him drop his head and head for my face," Slater said in the hearing.

"It was not my mentality to throw punches until I was headbutted three times.

"I’m not pleading innocent, I realise … it was the wrong thing to do."

Slater’s defence surprised NRL counsel Peter Kite who claimed he had no evidence of headbutts being launched.

Kite claimed the incident would not have escalated had Slater not intervened on the original altercation between Dragons half Jamie Soward and Storm half Cooper Cronk.

After the hearing, Slater said he would think twice before running in to help out a teammate involved in an altercation.

"There’s no doubt I put my hand up and said I did the wrong thing by running in and obviously throwing punches, I obviously let down my fans out there and obviously let down my teammates this weekend as well," Slater said.

Slater will now return against Gold Coast on Friday week, but will have 12-carry-over points hanging over his head in the run-in to the finals.

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