Collingwood’s counsel Stephen Russell called for the tribunal,in determining its penalty,to consider that De Goey had already been impacted “quite severely”,as seen by his performance and the public reaction after the incident. Former Port Adelaide star Kane Cornes had labelled De Goey’s hit as a “weak act”.

“The publicity and comments that have been made in a situation where you have a young man who is already remorseful about what’s happened and concerned about the wellbeing of the young man involved adds to the punishment to a large extent,” Russell said.

Arguing for a four-match suspension,the AFL said De Goey’s hit was more serious than Shane McAdam’s shirtfront on Greater Western Sydney’s Jacob Wehr,which resulted in a three-game ban,as Hewett suffered concussion.

Representing the AFL,Andrew Woods likened this case to Broad’s four-match suspension for a sling tackle on Adelaide’s Patrick Parnell,when the tribunal said players must do all they reasonably can not to cause injury.

‘This was another head injury that was avoidable.’

AFL tribunal chair Jeff Gleeson

Woods said there was potential for De Goey to have inflicted even more injuries to Hewett.

“It can readily be seen it could have included a broken jaw or other bones in the head,” Woods told the tribunal.

“The guideline makes it clear you can have severe impact even with no injury. Given all the factors that exist here,coupled with an actual injury,puts it above the three-week range into four.”

Russell said De Goey’s act was different to McAdam’s as he had not launched at his opponent,and had only a split second to slow down and reduce impact after Hewett disposed of the ball.

Hewett was also responsible for the majority of the momentum as he had been travelling at top speed,Collingwood argued,and De Goey had limited opportunity to get out of the way. They accepted his hip and shoulder had gone “badly wrong”,but he would have laid a tackle if possible.

The AFL agreed that Hewett had contributed to the “considerable force” with his speed but found De Goey’s breach in his duty of care was “clear but not egregious”.

“In all the circumstances we do not consider the matter requires a higher sanction than the three weeks base sanction that applies for this grading,” tribunal chair Jeff Gleeson said. “This was another head injury that was avoidable.”

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