Swans lose Grundy for AFL final

Sydney’s loss to Geelong has become a double blow ahead of the finals, with the AFL tribunal confirming Heath Grundy’s one-game suspension for striking.

His absence means the Swans will have to rework their defence to cope with Adelaide tall forwards Kurt Tippett and Taylor Walker in Saturday’s qualifying final at AAMI Stadium.

“Lewis Roberts-Thomson has played a lot of footy down there (in defence), so that’s certainly an option if need be,” Swans coach John Longmire said before the hearing.

“It’s just something you deal with (and) it’s the reality of playing football – these things happen.

“You’ve got to be a resilient group and adjust to them.”

On Monday, Swans veteran Jude Bolton admitted that the loss of Grundy would hurt them.

“It’d be a massive blow,” Bolton said.

“That’s something we’re going to have to contend with this week, two big key forwards from them.”

The loss to the Cats had already meant that rather than host the Crows, the Swans had to travel to play them in the opening week of the finals.

Monday’s match review panel reported Grundy for striking Geelong key forward James Podsiadly with a crude blow to the neck during the match at Simonds Stadium.

Grundy was not risking a bigger penalty by taking the case to the tribunal and he flew to Melbourne to front Tuesday’s hearing.

But it was always a long shot and after a one-hour hearing, the three-man jury needed just four minutes to rule against him.

The Swans had a two-pronged argument, first saying the contact to Podsiadly did not have sufficient force to warrant a striking charge.

They also argued that if the jury found against Grundy, they should downgrade the charge from intentional to reckless.

That would have let Grundy escape with a reprimand, but the jury ruled against him on the two arguments.

Grundy, 26, said in his evidence that he was only trying to push Podsiadly away as the 112-game defender stood the mark.

“I pushed him away with an open hand to the chest area so I can get back on the mark,” Grundy said.

“At no stage did I hit him to the face – as I pushed off, it slipped off the chest.

“The only contact, if high, was incidental to the neck.”

His advocate Iain Findlay also noted that fiery Geelong forward Paul Chapman, who was standing nearby, did not remonstrate after Grundy hit Podsiadly.

But tribunal advocate Jeff Gleeson pointed out that Podsiadly’s head jolted back from the force of the contact.

Also on Tuesday, Geelong accepted a one-game rough conduct suspension for star utility Steve Johnson, ruling him out of Saturday night’s home elimination final against Fremantle.

Teammate Paul Chapman escaped with a reprimand for his striking charge.

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