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Geelong spearhead Tom Hawkins has been offered a one-match ban by the AFL match review panel for his jumper punch to Adelaide midfielder Matt Crouch’s head.
If he submits an early guilty plea, Hawkins will miss the round 13 clash away to West Coast.
But if Hawkins makes an unsuccessful challenge to the finding, the ban would be increased to two weeks, also ruling him out of the home game against Fremantle on June 25.
The Cats have the bye this weekend.
The incident, which occurred just before halftime of last Thursday night’s match at Simonds Stadium which the Cats won by 22 points, was assessed as intentional conduct with low impact to Crouch’s head.
From Hawkins’ point of view, the timing could hardly have been worse.
It came less than a fortnight after the AFL flagged its intention to crack down on the practice of jumper punching after Richmond skipper Trent Cotchin controversially escaped with a fine for his blow to Docker Lachie Neale’s face.
In round 11, Sydney’s Zak Jones was also fined rather than banned for a punch to the upper body of Hawthorn’s Luke Breust.
Hawkins said he thought he had made contact with Crouch’s chest rather than his jaw.
“It was a bit of a funny one … on a night when there was a bit of push and shove I felt like I got him in the chest,” Hawkins said on ABC Radio.
“I know there’s obviously been a lot of talk about jumper punches but in no way did I intend to hit him high after it had been pretty well talked about through the week.”
Hawkins was considered unlucky to be suspended for one game last year for a glancing blow to the throat of GWS co-captain Phil Davis.
The only other incident from round 11 which prompted action from the MRP was a rough conduct charge against former Hawthorn skipper Luke Hodge.
The Hawks stalwart can accept a $1000 fine with an early guilty plea for the incident involving Port Adelaide’s Aaron Young.
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