ST KILDA first-round draft pick Alix Tauru has been banned for four matches after a VFL Tribunal hearing on Tuesday night.
Tauru was on Monday banned for rough conduct and offered a base sanction of four matches for an early guilty plea.
In challenging the ban at the Tribunal on Tuesday night, there was a possibility the teenager could be hit with a longer suspension. Despite the guilty verdict at the Tribunal, the VFL announced on Tuesday night that the ban remains at four games.
The front-on contact incident between Tauru and Brisbane's Curtis McCarthy at RSEA Park on Saturday was graded careless, severe impact and high contact, and it's understood the Lion was concussed.
State League bans carry through to the AFL, meaning Tauru won't be eligible for selection for a month in either competition.
A four-week ban takes Tauru into June, and the Saints have a bye in both the AFL and VFL in the first week of that month. It means the earliest he could return is the second week of June, which is round 14 of the AFL season.
He was unavailable for selection in the first few weeks of the season as he recovered from a long-term stress fracture in his back.
He was taken by the Saints with pick No.10 in last year's Telstra AFL Draft.
