Geelong’s Steve Johnson’s two-match AFL ban has been upheld at the tribunal and the Cats star will have extra demerit points hanging over his head for the rest of the season.
Johnson will miss crucial games against Fremantle and Hawthorn, and will carry 79.04 points, rather than 9.28 had he pleaded guilty.
The midfielder-forward instead unsuccessfully argued his high bump on Brisbane’s Pearce Hanley during the Cats’ shock loss to the Lions at the Gabba on Sunday was unavoidable.
Coach Chris Scott admitted earlier on Tuesday it was a big risk by the club to challenge the rough conduct charge, even though the suspension would have been two games either way.
“It’s a huge risk, to take that many carryover points into the late part of the season,” Scott told reporters.
“But we feel really strongly about it that we have an obligation to defend our player.”
It’s the second time this season the Cats have gone to the tribunal over a bump and lost, after James Kelly copped a two-match ban for an incident with Essendon’s Brendon Goddard in round seven.
Johnson argued that his initial aim was to tackle Hanley, but after teammate Joel Corey reached him first and laid a tackle he changed his mind and braced for contact instead.
Asked why he couldn’t still have tackled, Johnson said that would have endangered him, Corey and Hanley.
His advocate Peter Murdoch QC argued Johnson couldn’t have reasonably foreseen that Corey would tackle Hanley before he got there.
But Johnson himself admitted under cross-examination there was nothing unexpected in what happened.
Tribunal counsel Andrew Tinney SC used the case to take a shot at those members of the public “bleating” about the death of the bump, calling them misguided.
While the hearing took well over an hour, the jury took just six minutes to find Johnson guilty.
Fremantle’s Ryan Crowley was still to contest a charge of pinching North Melbourne’s Brent Harvey.
Earlier on Tuesday, West Coast’s Andrew Embley (one match), Melbourne’s Jake Spencer (three games) and St Kilda’s Tom Simpkin (two) all accepted suspensions for various offences.
