FIERY Hawthorn defender James Sicily was almost slapped with a two-game suspension for kneeing Geelong captain Joel Selwood early in the final term of the Easter Monday classic at the MCG.

Match Review Officer Michael Christian assessed the incident as intentional conduct with low impact to the head, resulting in a one-match ban being offered, but he had the option of lifting the impact to medium under the clause of potential to cause serious injury.

"(Football operations manager) Steve Hocking and I discussed that and certainly considered (medium impact)," Christian told Melbourne radio station SEN on Tuesday.  

"I suppose when we're thinking about the potential to cause (serious injury), the forcefulness of the contact was the key issue. It wasn't overly forceful. He didn't drive his knee into Joel's head.

"It was more a dropping motion, even a placing motion.  

"From that perspective, there was consideration given to upgrading it to medium but felt with the whole look of the contact and the impact, and the fact that Joel was able to get up and basically play on … (I) certainly believe that the right grading was low."

WATCH: Sicily v Selwood

The Hawks went on to win a thrilling one-point clash but Sicily's conduct was assessed by match review officer Michael Christian as intentional conduct with low impact to the head. The fiery backman accepted his one-game ban on Wednesday.

Hawthorn, which is 2-0, faces reigning premiers Richmond at the MCG on Sunday afternoon.

His teammates Kaiden Brand and Daniel Howe both accepted $1500 fines for misconduct with early pleas.

Both incidents happened in the final term, on Tom Hawkins and Selwood respectively.

Geelong's James Parsons accepted a $2000 fine for striking Howe in the opening term. The charge was assessed as intentional conduct with low impact to the body.

Sicily and Selwood's clash came with minutes into the last quarter.

They were involved in a tussle after the football had left their immediate vicinity.

Selwood grabbed Sicily's legs, which didn't allow the Hawk to run to the next contest, and the backman dropped his left knee into the six-time All Australian's head.

They shook hands after the siren but also engaged in a relatively lengthy conversation, with Sicily appearing aggrieved.

The pair was also in conflict early in the game.

Ryan Burton had conceded a free kick against Selwood for a high tackle and Sicily came in to remonstrate with the Cats captain, conceding a 50m penalty in the process.