The AFL Tribunal had a busy night on Tuesday night with three cases to get through.
Carlton star Adam Cerra was the first case for the night as he was sent to the tribunal for umpire contact, his fourth time in two years.
In what was an unusual case, the AFL was seeking a fine of $6,200 for the offence to deter other players, while Carlton was arguing it should be no more than $5,000.
The Tribunal fined Cerra $5,500, which was in the middle of the two in what was a strange tribunal case.
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Brisbane’s Zac Bailey was second on the list as he tried to get off his one-match ban for striking Carlton’s Nick Haynes.
The Lions tried to argue that the incident was low impact, while the AFL maintained it was medium impact due to the potential to cause injury with the bump.
However, Brisbane were unsuccessful with their challenge, and Bailey will miss the Lions clash against the Western Bulldogs on Friday night.
The last case and arguably the most interesting was North Melbourne ruckman Tristian Xerri, who was challenging his three-match ban for a swinging arm which knocked out Melbourne’s Tom Sparrow.
North Melbourne argued the hit was not careless, someone pushed Sparrow from behind, and Xerri had eyes on the ball, which, if successful, would let the ruckman be free to play.
Xerri was interviewed by the tribunal and explained he was just trying to be physical and bring pressure to the contest, and he also sent a text to Sparrow the next day to see how he was doing.
This was all in vain as the tribunal upheld his suspension, and the ruckman will miss the Kangaroos’ games against Sydney, Geelong and St Kilda and will dent his All-Australian claims.