HAWTHORN star Jarryd Roughead will miss Sunday’s clash against Fremantle after accepting a one-match suspension handed down by the Match Review Panel on Monday.
Hawthorn GM – Football operations Chris Fagan confirmed to hawthornfc.com.au on Tuesday morning Roughead and the Hawks had opted not to challenge the ban at the AFL tribunal tonight.
Fagan said after reviewing previous tripping incidents from past and present seasons, including one involving Collingwood star Dane Swan from 2012, the Hawks believe it would be difficult to have the suspension overturned.
“’Rough’ has very little chance if he goes there (the Tribunal) of having it dismissed,” he told hawthornfc.com.au
“That’s why we’ve decided to accept the penalty as laid down by the Match Review Panel.”
Roughead was found guilty of tripping Melbourne’s Dom Tyson and would have been available this week had it not been for 64.06 carry-over points from a previous charge this season.
Last year’s Coleman Medal winner received 80 demerit points for the trip, which was then increased to 144.06 points and a one-match ban because of his poor record.
But while the Hawks will be without their leading goal-kicker for Sunday’s blockbuster at Patersons Stadium, there is a silver lining.
Fagan revealed a contributing factor in the decision not to challenge was the ability to reduce the number of carry-over points hanging over Roughead’s head for the remainder of the season.
By accepting the early guilty plea, Roughead reduces the penalty by 25 per cent from 144.06 points to 108.05 points.
That means he will have just 8.05 carry-over points affecting any future MRP findings.
“The big problem for ‘Rough’ in particular this year is that he had 93.75 carry-over points from last year’s Preliminaary Final because we took the early plea on that so he could play in the Grand Final,” Fagan said.
“This is a real opportunity now to get his carry-over points down to eight when they’ve been as high as 65 this year.”
Roughead will return in next Saturday night’s blockbuster against Geelong at the MCG.
“The upside is we’ll get Rough back fit and fresh from a week off and having only eight points hanging over his head, which is a real positive,” Fagan said.
