Geelong superstar Patrick Dangerfield will not be eligible to win the 2017 Brownlow Medal after he accepted his one-match suspension from the match review panel.
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"After seeking independent advice, the club has decided to accept the penalty handed down to Pat by the match review panel," Geelong's general manager of football, Steve Hocking, said in a statement released by Geelong on Tuesday morning.
"The club reviewed all possibilities around the case in coming to this decision. We respect the fact that the match review panel has a challenging and difficult role and has to operate under high scrutiny.
"While there has been a lot of debate around Pat's eligibility for the Brownlow Medal, Pat and the club have at all times remained focussed on what is best for the team as we head towards to last part of the season."
Dangerfield was sanctioned by the MRP for his tackle on Matthew Kreuzer, which drove the Carlton ruckman head-first into the Etihad Stadium turf and left him concussed.
Kreuzer, who had no way of bracing himself as both of his arms were pinned, took no further part in the match on Saturday night.
Dangerfield will miss the Cats' blockbuster clash with Sydney at Simonds Stadium on Friday night.
The former Crow's ineligibility makes Richmond star Dustin Martin the red-hot favourite for the AFL's most coveted individual award.
Meanwhile, former Hawthorn captain Luke Hodge is contesting his one-game suspension for striking Sydney forward Tom Papley.
The incident incurred a third fine for Hodge in the same season, which leads to an automatic one-match ban.
The tribunal will sit at 5.30pm on Tuesday to hear Hodge's case. If Hodge fails at the tribunal, his only extra penalty on top of the one-game suspension will be a $2500 fine.
Also on Tuesday, Sydney star Lance Franklin accepted his $1500 fine for making contact with Hodge's face. Collingwood onballer Taylor Adams has taken a $1000 fine for rough conduct.
AFL PLAYERS TO MISS OUT ON THE BROWNLOW MEDAL BECAUSE OF SUSPENSION
1996: North Melbourne ruckman Corey McKernan became the first player to miss out on the Brownlow because of a suspension. He served a one-match ban early in the season for kneeing Geelong's John Barnes to the back of the head. Without the ban, McKernan would have tied with Essendon's James Hird and the Brisbane Lions' Michael Voss.
1997: Western Bulldogs key forward Chris Grant polls one more vote than St Kilda's Robert Harvey. But Grant is ineligible for a controversial one-match striking ban – an open-handed slap on Hawthorn opponent Nick Holland.
2012: Essendon's Jobe Watson wins the Brownlow, four votes ahead of Sam Mitchell (Hawthorn) and Trent Cotchin (Richmond). Four years later, the AFL strips Watson of the medal because of his doping ban, a consequence of the Essendon supplements debacle. In November last year, Mitchell and Cotchin were awarded their medals retrospectively at a special ceremony. It is understood Watson still has not handed back the medal to the AFL.
RECENT BROWNLOW MEDALS WHERE INELIGIBLE PLAYERS HAVE GONE CLOSE
2006: Adam Goodes (Syd) 26, Daniel Kerr (WC) 22, third
2008: Adam Cooney (WB) 24, Goodes 21, fifth, Lance Franklin (Haw) 20, sixth
2011: Dane Swan (Coll) 34, Mitchell 30, second (Mitchell won several media awards that season)
2013: Gary Ablett (GC) 28, Steve Johnson (Geel) 25, fourth
2014: Matt Priddis (WC), 26, Nat Fyfe (Fre) 25, second
THE CURIOUS CASE OF CHRIS JUDD
Carlton star Chris Judd won his second Brownlow in 2010. In round 13, he had thrown his elbow back and collected Fremantle's Matthew Pavlich across the cheek, drawing blood. But the match review panel did not charge him. When asked about the incident on stage after receiving the medal, Judd smiled and said "yeah I was probably a bit lucky".
The Brownlow is awarded to the AFL's best and fairest player, as voted by the umpires. A player who is guilty of an offence deemed worthy of a suspension becomes ineligible. New Brownlow favourite Dustin Martin has been fined twice this season – if he is fined again, he will be suspended and that will make him ineligible.
- with AAP