Gold Coast hard man Campbell Brown will start next AFL season under suspension after copping a four-match ban for sticking his boot into the face of Melbourne’s James Strauss.
Essendon veteran Dustin Fletcher will have to wait until this season’s last home and away round to break the Bombers’ club games record after accepting a two-game suspension.
Bombers ruckman Paddy Ryder has accepted a one-game ban.
And Melbourne youngster Mitch Clisby will miss the Demons’ final three matches this season, after the Demons backtracked on their initial plan to challenge his rough conduct charge.
Brown did visit the tribunal on Tuesday night to challenge his misconduct charge, for an incident which broke Strauss’s nose at Metricon Stadium on Saturday night.
Brown was lying on his back at the time and argued he was thrusting out his foot to try to regain his feet, but accidentally connected with Strauss instead.
Brown, a former Hawthorn player who was part of the Hawks’ 2008 premiership side, has been guilty of 12 previous offences for a total of 25 games suspended, but said this charge was devastating and a blight on his character.
“I would never (deliberately) make contact to someone’s face with my boot,” he said.
“I’ve been reported a few times, but my history would suggest that’s not something I would do.”
But the jury needed just six minutes deliberation to find him guilty.
It means the 29-year-old will miss this year’s last three games and round one next season.
The decision of Fletcher, whose 378 games for the Bombers has him equal with Simon Madden as the club’s joint record-holder, to accept his ban for a high bump on West Coast’s Jamie Cripps means he can return in round 23 to break the Bombers’ record.
It also means the 38-year-old now also holds the AFL record for the most times found guilty of an offence, with this his 16th.
Ryder’s suspension was for a rough conduct offence against Cripps.
The Demons initially announced on Tuesday that Clisby, who was booked for rough conduct against Gold Coast’s Alex Sexton after a match review panel investigation on Monday, would challenge.
But they changed their minds soon after, to enhance the 23-year-old rookie-lister’s chances of playing in the VFL finals.
St Kilda’s Adam Schneider and North Melbourne’s Aaron Black accepted reprimands for rough conduct offences.