NORTH Melbourne will challenge Drew Petrie's misconduct charge for making unreasonable and unnecessary contact to Hawthorn defender Brian Lake's face, Roos coach Brad Scott has confirmed.
Petrie was cited by the Match Review Panel on Monday for his part in a fracas with Lake during the third quarter of North's stirring 20-point win on Friday night.
Lake was sent directly to the tribunal by the MRP on a misconduct charge for his choke-hold on Petrie, while the Kangaroos forward was slapped with a one-match ban.
Petrie's contact to Lake's face was deemed negligent, low impact and high contact.
He could have avoided suspension if he accepted a reprimand and 93.75 carryover points, however the Roos have decided to challenge the ruling.
"We won't be accepting a reprimand. We'll challenge that at the tribunal," Brad Scott said on Channel 7's Talking Footy on Monday night.
The Roos coach said he was "flabbergasted" by the MRP's finding.
"The charge is unnecessary and unreasonable contact so I would ask any reasonable person to suggest what Drew should have done in that situation – maybe write Brian an email or something – because he couldn't see, he couldn't breathe, he couldn't talk," Scott said.
The Kangaroos coach's comments come after Petrie said "he was nearly asleep there for a moment" post-match on Friday.
Petrie appeared to back away from those comments on The Sunday Footy Show when he said "I'm OK with it. It's a physical game, things happen in games".
Lake and Petrie will front the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday night.
