Melbourne duo Jordan Lewis and Jesse Hogan have accepted suspensions for striking offences during Sunday’s AFL win over Carlton.

Lewis coped a three-match ban for his challenge on Blues onballer Patrick Cripps and Hogan took a two-game suspension for striking Sam Rowe.

Cripps suffered a fractured jaw and is in doubt for Sunday’s clash with Essendon.

A medical report from Carlton was part of the evidence assessed by the match review panel before Lewis was charged, with the incident classed as intentional with medium impact to the head.

The former Hawthorn onballer has a bad tribunal record, which increased his penalty from two to three games.

Melbourne risked adding another game to their penalties if they went to the tribunal and were unsuccessful.

The behind-play incidents followed Bernie Vince being suspended for a similar offence during Melbourne’s opening-round win over St Kilda.

“We’ve spoken to our players about the three of them being involved in three incidents over the last two weeks – three off-the-ball incidents,” Melbourne football boss Josh Mahoney said on Tuesday.

“We want to be known as a competitive, contested team and these incidents don’t in any way reflect how we want to be viewed.

“The MRP grading and the medical reports make it very difficult to challenge any element of the charges, so we’ll be accepting both the early pleas for both cases.”

Mahoney said the suspensions would create opportunities for others to come into the unbeaten Melbourne side for their important clash with Geelong at Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

Hawthorn great Jason Dunstall on Monday slammed the actions of Lewis and Hogan as “irresponsible”.

“Jesse Hogan is only a young player but he’s a key player,” Dunstall told Fox Footy.

“This is a young team that has won their first couple of games and are ready to go somewhere. You can’t do it without your good players.”

North Melbourne are yet to decide whether they will challenge a one-game ban handed to Scott Thompson for his crude forearm jolt on Geelong star Patrick Dangerfield.

Thompson’s teammate Braydon Preuss can accept a $1000 fine after he was booked during the match for rough conduct.

Preuss clumsily cannoned into Jackson Thurlow’s back at a marking contest.

Sydney’s Zak Jones can also take a $1000 fine for rough conduct against Western Bulldogs recruit Travis Cloke and Hawthorn defender Ben Stratton faces the same penalty for striking Adelaide forward Eddie Betts.