Essendon star Dylan Shiel will be the headline act on a busy Tuesday night at the AFL tribunal when he challenges his two-match suspension for rough conduct.
But St Kilda's Ben Long is almost certainly facing a heavier penalty when he fronts the three-man jury to face the music over a hip-and-shoulder that concussed Fremantle ruckman Sean Darcy.
On a bruising weekend, Port Adelaide veteran Brad Ebert and Richmond grand final hero Marlion Pickett were also scrutinised by the Match Review Officer for illegal bumps on opponents.
All four bumping incidents were graded as careless conduct and high contact.
But Ebert (medium impact) has escaped with an offer of a one-match ban for his bump on Giant Harry Perryman and Pickett (low impact) can accept a $1000 for his bump on Sydney's Isaac Heeney.
Shiel's heavy hit on North Melbourne's Curtis Taylor during the Bombers' 14-point win on Saturday night was graded as high impact when it was assessed on Sunday.
But Essendon are hopeful of having the impact grading reduced after an MRI scan on Monday to assess a potential facial fracture cleared Taylor of structural damage.
Taylor passed a concussion test during the game and played out the match.
If successful in having the grading reduced to medium impact, Shiel would miss only one game, with the Bombers due to take on the Western Bulldogs on Friday night.
"We can only go on the evidence we have at the time," match review officer Michael Christian told reporters on Monday evening.
"We took into account (Sunday's) medical report and the player reaction, in terms of (Taylor) going for concussion testing.
"We also took into account and looked at the provisions around potential to cause (injury), which talk about significant force and/or player momentum.
"We felt the momentum that Dylan had built certainly sat within those potential to cause (injury) provisions."
Shiel ran past the ball to bump Taylor, but Christian was comfortable with all four bumps being graded as careless conduct, rather than intentional.
"The reality is that the game allows players to bump within five metres of the ball, so you are allowed to run over the ball and bump an opponent when the ball's within five metres," Christian said.
"But when you make that election to bump, you need to do it fairly.
"When you don't, there's an issue with it."
Long was referred directly to the tribunal when his hit on Darcy was classified as severe impact, given the potential to cause injury.
Darcy did not return to the field of play after the incident and remains in doubt for the Dockers' meeting with cross-town rivals West Coast this Sunday.
In other charges laid on Monday, Perryman was fined $1000 for striking Port's Ollie Wines and Tiger Jayden Short was fined $500 for misconduct against Heeney.
Giant Aidan Corr had no case to answer over an incident where he pushed the head of Port Adelaide's Todd Marshall into the ground.
Australian Associated Press
