North Melbourne veteran Brent Harvey has been given a three-match suspension for throwing Liam Picken to the ground and pinning him with a forearm to the throat.

Harvey’s misconduct charge was referred directly to the tribunal and the three-man panel retired for five minutes on Tuesday night before finding Harvey guilty.

Harvey’s advocate Justin Hannebery broke the incident down to two phases, pleading guilty to the initial hip-toss but arguing the 36-year-old attempted to then stand up when the Western Bulldogs tagger held him down.

“I don’t think I had any other option,” Harvey testified.

“He made contact with me and grabbed me with both hands. I tried to get up and get some leverage to push up … he was pulling me down with force,” he added, likening it to a “tug of war”.

“Not at one stage did I want to hurt him .. or cause him pain.” The Bulldogs’ medical report confirmed Picken was not hurt by Harvey.

But jury members Wayne Henwood, David Neitz and David Pittman dismissed the suggestion Harvey’s forearm to the throat was an involuntary act, finding Harvey was guilty of misconduct for both incidents.

Harvey will miss games against Adelaide and Melbourne, as well as the first week of the finals, should the Kangaroos qualify as expected.

AFL legal counsel Jeff Gleeson QC suggested four weeks was an appropriate ban given Harvey showed a “degree of contrition” in pleading guilty, but his existing bad record was more paramount.

The 382-game veteran served a six-game suspension at the start of the 2013 season, burdening him with a 40 per cent loading.

Hannebery proposed three weeks was “far too close to the more serious aspects of misconduct and would be over the top”.

But he jury retired and once again disagreed with Hannebery, imposing a penalty of 341 demerit points.