FREMANTLE'S Nick Suban will miss round one next season after his misconduct charge drew a penalty of 150 points at the Tribunal on Tuesday night.
Suban was charged after making contact to the face of Hawthorn's Sam Mitchell in the Grand Final, but his case was referred directly to the Tribunal, with the Match Review Panel "uncomfortable" with the excessive penalty it would have returned.
Suban would have been ruled out for six weeks under the MRP guidelines because of the double loading for Grand Final misdemeanours.
The Grand Final loading, however, was still taken into account by the jury of Richard Loveridge, Wayne Henwood and Wayne Schimmelbusch, who took seven minutes to settle on the 150-point penalty.
There was a 30-minute delay before the case started as AFL counsel Jeff Gleeson and Suban's advocate, John Prior, discussed a penalty the half-back would be happy to plead guilty to.
Suban, who grabbed at Mitchell's cheek as the pair grappled at a stoppage on Saturday, appeared by video link and apologised to Mitchell.
In the first direct referral to the Tribunal this season, he pleaded guilty to the misconduct charge and agreed that Mr Gleeson's recommendation of a 100-point penalty was reasonable.
Mr Prior described the incident as a "one off, out-of-character incident" and said a significant discount would be appropriate given his client's guilty plea.
Chairman David Jones, however, told the jury a "reprimand would be inappropriate" and "the player missing a week from the competition as a result would seem an appropriate penalty".
He said there should not be an "automatic doubling up" of points, but the fact the offence took place in a Grand Final should be taken into account.
