Geelong’s triple-premiership star Steve Johnson has been offered a two-match ban by the AFL’s match review panel for rough conduct against Brisbane’s Pearce Hanley.
West Coast’s Andrew Embley was also charged by the panel on Monday and can accept a one-game suspension for kneeing Hawthorn’s Ben Stratton in Friday night’s round-13 clash at Etihad Stadium.
Melbourne’s Jake Spencer can accept a three-match ban for his bump on St Kilda’s Ben McEvoy while Tom Simpkin is facing a two-game suspension for striking Melbourne’s Chris Dawes.
The charge against triple All-Australian Johnson is a major blow for the Cats, who suffered only their second loss for the season in Sunday’s shock defeat against Brisbane at the Gabba.
Second-placed Geelong face third-placed Fremantle and competition leaders Hawthorn in the next two rounds.
Due to Johnson’s previous poor record, including 54.04 demerit points carried over from within the past 12 months, the midfielder’s two-game ban remains at two matches even with an early guilty plea which would cut the penalty to 209.28 points.
The first-quarter incident at the Gabba between Johnson and Hanley was assessed as negligent conduct (one point), medium impact (two points) and high contact (two points).