HAWTHORN utility Brendan Whitecross is free to play against Adelaide this Sunday after his one-match suspension for rough conduct against Geelong captain Joel Selwood was overturned by the AFL Tribunal.
 
The Tribunal needed just 11 minutes to clear Whitecross after a 100-minute hearing on Wednesday night.

Tribunal member Wayne Henwood said it had not been satisfied that Whitecross' high contact with Selwood during the fourth quarter of Monday's Hawthorn-Geelong game had constituted a bump.
 
After the hearing - and repeatedly during it - Whitecross said the speed of events leading up to his collision with Selwood had made contact unavoidable.
 
"I'm just glad that both players in the end came out of it all right," Whitecross said.

"No one likes to see incidents like that in our game of footy. But with the speed of the game and the context of the game it was just unavoidable."
 
During the hearing, Whitecross had testified that after tackling Cat Allen Christensen, he had gone for the ball and then in a reflex action turned to protect himself just before Selwood ran into him.
 
Afterwards, Hawthorn football manager Mark Evans hailed the tribunal's decision as a victory for common sense.
 
"This is a really tough game to play," Evans said.
 
"Things happen so quickly and if you take things frame-by-frame in slow motion, you can get a distorted view about what is realistically available as an option for a player and we're delighted the tribunal found that way today."
 
Whitecross had earlier been offered a one-match suspension by the Match Review Panel to a charge of level-two rough conduct against Selwood, but had risked a ban of two matches by challenging the MRP's finding at the tribunal.
 
During the hearing, Whitecross' version of events was supported by the field umpire in control of Monday's game at the time of the collision, Dean Margetts.
 
Giving evidence by video link from Perth, Margetts said he had viewed Whitecross' collision with Selwood at the time as "just an accident of footy".
 
Margetts also testified that:
-he had not paid a free kick against Whitecross let alone reported him;
-no Geelong players had remonstrated with Whitecross after Selwood was left lying face down on the ground after the collision, and;
-Whitecross "certainly had player Selwood's welfare at heart" when he subsequently stopped to check his condition.
 
Counsel for the AFL, Geoff Gleeson SC, tabled a medical report by Geelong doctor Chris Bradshaw that detailed how Selwood had been checked for a neck injury after the collision but had been lucid.

The report said Selwood had been taken from the ground to be tested for concussion but had recovered well and subsequently returned to the ground.
 
In his testimony, Whitecross said he had received a phone call from the Geelong on-baller on Tuesday to thank him for the concern he'd shown after the collision.
 
"(Selwood) felt terrible that I'd been reported for the collision," Whitecross said.

Nick Bowen is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter at @AFL_Nick