HAWTHORN'S finals hopes have suffered a significant blow, with midfielder Daniel Howe slapped with a three-week ban for tripping Carlton's Zac Fisher at the AFL Tribunal.
In conjunction with his two-week ban for striking Patrick Cripps in the same game, Howe will now miss Hawthorn's final five games of the home and away season through suspension.
It means the only way Howe will play again this season is if the Hawks make the finals.
Howe failed in his attempts to lessen the impact grading from 'severe' to 'medium', with the Tribunal taking 19 minutes to uphold the Match Review's grading of severe impact and a further four minutes to conclude that a three-match suspension would be appropriate.
"It was never my intention to hurt Zac," Howe said.
"I'm disappointed with the outcome. I've got a good training block ahead of me and hopefully the boys make finals so I can take part in that.
"I'm confident in the direction the club is heading in, so we'll wait and see if they make finals but I'm confident we'll be there at the end of the year."
Howe had seemingly tripped Fisher late in the first quarter of Hawthorn's clash with Carlton on Sunday, with the Blues youngster immediately limping from the field and failing to return.
Scans later revealed Fisher had fractured his left leg in the incident, with the injury set to rule the 20-year-old out for the remainder of the season.
Match Review Officer Michael Christian had graded the trip as careless conduct, with severe impact to the body, meaning the penalty exceeded the AFL's classifiable offence table.
In arguing the Tribunal should uphold Christian's verdict of a severe impact grading, and subsequently a minimum three-match ban, the AFL's legal counsel Jeff Gleeson QC said "the realistic worst-case scenario happened" in terms of Fisher breaking his leg.
However, Howe's representative Peter O'Farrell countered by arguing that Fisher's injury shouldn't be the sole determinant of the impact. He instead suggested his client might not have even been reported had Fisher not been injured.
O'Farrell subsequently argued that the Tribunal should change Christian's grading to either medium impact (leading to a fine) or high impact (a one-match ban).
The Tribunal eventually accepted Gleeson's argument for a three-match ban – taking Howe's total time on the sidelines to five games.
Earlier on Tuesday, Howe had accepted a two-game ban for striking Cripps.
That incident occurred earlier in the first quarter of Sunday's game, with Howe catching Cripps in the jaw in an off-the-ball incident prior to a stoppage taking place.
Cripps fell to the floor for nearly a minute as a result of the strike, with his Carlton teammates immediately remonstrating with Howe in the aftermath.
Hawthorn, who is currently fighting for one of the final few spots in the top eight, plays Fremantle, Essendon, Geelong, St Kilda and Sydney to finish the home and away season.
