St Kilda’s Jake Carlisle will become the sixth AFL player this season to try his luck at the tribunal after being charged with striking.
The Saints have decided to head to the tribunal in the hope of downgrading Carlisle’s two-game suspension.
Richmond premiership forward Jack Riewoldt was concussed after Carlisle’s clumsy and late attempted spoil during the first quarter of Saturday’s clash at the MCG.
AFL match review officer Michael Christian assessed the incident as careless conduct with high impact to the head, resulting in a two-game sanction.
If St Kilda can get the impact down to medium or low, the ban would be cut to one week.
The hearing is to be held on Tuesday evening.
Saints coach Alan Richardson hinted strongly on Monday night the club would challenge the severity of the grading.
“Our gut feel was that it would be a week,” he told Fox Footy’s AFL 360.
“I think the players have always got a really good feel for this. No one remonstrated with Jake – it was a clumsy accident that got him high.
“We were a little bit surprised with two (games).”
Carlisle will miss Saturday night’s clash against West Coast but if he is successful in getting the suspension halved he would be free to return for the June 9 clash against Sydney.
Changes to the match review system this year have provided something of an incentive for clubs to challenge suspensions before the tribunal.
Unlike previous years, there is no risk of players receiving an increased sanction for an unsuccessful trip to the tribunal, although clubs must forfeit a $10,000 fee.
Five players have opted to challenge suspensions this season with just two successful.
Geelong skipper Joel Selwood and North Melbourne counterpart Jack Ziebell each managed to overturn one-match bans for striking and kneeing respective opponents.
West Coast superstar Nic Naitanui, Adelaide’s Richard Douglas and Richmond’s Jack Graham had their suspensions upheld.