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A brutal tackle from star West Coast ruckman Nic Naitanui is set to cost him a week’s AFL suspension.
The Eagles’ win over Port Adelaide on Saturday has proved costly for Naitanui, who also faces a $1000 fine for attempted tripping.
But match reviewer Michael Christian cleared Melbourne key forward Jesse Hogan of an alleged staging incident during Sunday’s win over St Kilda.
Christian had a busy Monday, dishing out 11 charges, while over the weekend he also referred Geelong star Tom Hawkins to Tuesday’s tribunal for intentional umpire contact.
Naitanui is the only player facing suspension from Monday’s charges.
The umpire penalised him at the time for in the back when he drove Karl Amon into the ground during the last quarter of the Optus Stadium match.
A couple of Port players went to remonstrate with Naitanui for the tackle, but Amon was quickly on his feet.
Christian charged Naitanui with rough conduct, ruling the tackle was careless and medium impact to the head.
Unless Naitanui successfully pleads his case at the tribunal, he will miss Saturday’s away game against GWS.
He has made a successful return from a long spell out of the game because of knee surgery, playing all seven games, and the Eagles are on a six-game winning streak.
Hogan was panned widely on social media for the incident with Jake Carlisle, where he appeared to milk high contact from the St Kilda defender to draw a free kick.
The Melbourne star somehow missed the set shot from point-blank range.
But Christian ruled that behind-goal vision showed Carlisle pushes Hogan with an open hand to the throat.
“There was high contact made to the Melbourne player and the contact was not excessively exaggerated by Hogan,” Christian ruled.
Port Adelaide ruckman Dougal Howard and Carlton veteran Dale Thomas face $2000 fines for rough conduct.
North Melbourne onballer Shaun Higgins and Sydney veteran Jarrad McVeigh are $1500 out of pocket for misconduct against each other.
Richmond defender Nick Vlastuin ($1500) and Melbourne co-captain Nathan Jones ($2500) were also booked for misconduct and St Kilda onballer David Armitage was fined $1000 for careless umpire contact.
St Kilda utility Jack Steele and Brisbane youngster Alex Witherden can accept $2000 striking fines.
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