The Cowboys will play Cronulla away in an elimination final on the back of a 50-30 thrashing by Canberra on Saturday night that got off to a horror start when Cotter was sin-binned for a high shot on retiring legend Josh Papalii after just 15 seconds.
Referee Nick Pelgrave said it was reckless and forceful to the head, but Papalii passed his HIA and returned to go out a winner.
Cotter was not charged with a reckless high tackle but the grade two careless high tackle charge comes with a minimum of one week's suspension and two if he challenges and fails at the judiciary.
The Cowboys face sudden death so have nothing to lose by challenging and trying for a downgrade.
The 27-year-old Cotter had already been charged three times, all grade one, by the Match Review Committee (MRC) this year, but had no extra loading on his record.
Two of those charges have fallen off his record given they were more than 10 games ago and he successfully challenged a high shot charge on Gold Coast's Jayden Campbell in round 23.
A grade one charge would see him available for the Sharks clash.
Coach Todd Payten was optimistic about Cotter's chances of playing in the Sharks showdown post-match.
"It was a big collision, definitely," Payten said.
"Watching it again a couple of times, I thought it was head on head.
"I thought Papa stayed down just in disappointment of dropping the ball, and then in the HIA he was cleared and came back to play which was a good thing for him and a good way for him to finish off his career."
Cotter was of the same view on the hit and also said it was "head on head".
North Queensland were way off the pace against Canberra and conceding 50 points heading into finals was not what the coach wanted.
"Shocked, very disappointed," Payten said of the display.
"But it is a new competition next week, and we have got to get past that quickly and dive into what we are doing on Monday."
The Sharks have also limped into the post-season, but the Cowboys must find defensive resolve and fix their discipline if they are to go further than week one of the playoffs.
"We have got to look at ourselves," Payten said.
"That is four games in a row that we have had someone in the bin through poor discipline or a stupid decision and that is all in our own control.
"The game is too hard to play with 12 men. We do that next week and the game is gone.
"It is about high completions and field position in the next four weeks and if you don't get any of them right then you are not in the contest."
