North Melbourne will challenge a one-match suspension to Brent Harvey in an attempt to free their champion midfielder to play in Friday night’s AFL preliminary final against Sydney.

Harvey was issued with the one-game rough conduct ban by the match review panel on Monday for making high contact to Geelong captain Joel Selwood in last Friday night’s MCG semi-final, which the Kangaroos won by six points.

Selwood was forced from the ground under the blood rule after the contact with Harvey opened up a cut over his right eye.

The 36-year-old Harvey’s previous poor record and resultant carry-over points meant he was unable to have the sanction cut to a reprimand with an early guilty plea.

He only returned to action last week after serving a separate three-game ban for misconduct.

The 383-game veteran will now miss the Kangaroos’ first preliminary final in seven years unless he is able to have the charge overturned at the tribunal on Tuesday night.

North Melbourne wasted no time in confirming they would challenge the ban.

The MRP assessed the contact with Selwood as a level one offence involving negligent conduct (one point), low impact (one point) and high contact (two points), resulting in 125 demerit points.

Harvey’s existing bad record saw the penalty increased by 10 per cent, while a further 41 demerit points increased the penalty to 178.50 points, ruling out the prospect of a reprimand, even with the 25 per cent discount for an early guilty plea.

The match-day report of Fremantle’s Zac Dawson for striking Port Adelaide’s Robbie Gray in the other semi-final was dismissed after the MRP ruled that the Dockers’ defender was making a legitimate attempt to spoil the ball.