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Geelong duo accept AFL suspensions

19th April, 2017
2

Geelong’s James Parsons and Sam Menegola have accepted AFL suspensions for separate incidents involving Hawthorn’s Luke Hodge.

Parsons will miss two games for elbowing Hodge in the head, while Menegola will sit out one game for a dangerous tackle on the former Hawthorn skipper during the Easter Monday game at the MCG.

The tribunal will not sit on Wednesday night, with Hawks veteran Josh Gibson having earlier been cleared by the match review panel over his bump on Geelong’s Tom Ruggles.

Parsons’ suspension comes just two games into his career, with coach Chris Scott describing the 20-year-old of being guilty of a “technical deficiency”.

“I’ve got absolutely no qualms about his intent,” Scott told Fox Footy’s AFL 360.

“He’s not the sort of player who would deliberately go out to do that – it’s clearly a technical thing.

“It is an awkward feeling when you’ve decided that you’e not going to tackle but then you’re clearly wrong-footed and you’re stretching to make contact.

“When you’re going in to bump and you think you’re going to make contact cleanly then you’re a little bit wrong-footed you tend to reach and it’s easy for the elbow to come up.

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“He’s going to pay a price but we’ve just got to make sure that he’s better for it longer term.”

Essendon defender Conor McKenna earlier accepted a one-game ban and will miss the Anzac Day blockbuster against Collingwood.

The 21-year-old elected not to challenge his suspension for a high bump on Adelaide youngster Riley Knight.

Greater Western Sydney star Tony Greene accepted a $1000 fine for striking Port’s Dan Houston, as did West Coast forward Mark LeCras for rough conduct on Sydney’s Aliir Aliir.

The MRP assessed the first eight games of round four on Monday and cleared North Melbourne captain Jack Ziebell over his bump on Travis Cloke.

Cloke will be sidelined for four to six weeks after suffering broken ribs as a result of the collision during the fourth quarter of the inaugural Good Friday game.

The review panel deemed Ziebell’s bump on the Western Bulldogs forward as “not unreasonable”.

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