The Power big man was staring at two weeks on the sidelines had he been found guilty, after deciding to challenge a charge of engaging in rough conduct against Essendon speedster Andrew Lovett.
The incident occurred during the quarter-time break of Port Adelaide’s round one win on Sunday.
Port Adelaide opted to fight the charge and, despite the AFL jury members downgrading the rough conduct charge from intentional to reckless, Brogan will still miss one match.
The ban came despite a plea from Port Adelaide’s player advocate, Mark Griffin, to the tribunal jury to reduce his points loading to below a one-match sanction.
However the jury found there were no “exceptional and compelling” circumstances for them to do so, with the 125 demerit points standing.
Despite there not actually being any video footage of the incident itself, much of the case was centred on television screens as evidence was given via video link-up.
The case, which lasted nearly two hours, was conducted in Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth.
Brogan and the Power’s defence were in Adelaide, Lovett appeared at Docklands to give evidence while field umpire Dean Margetts gave his version of the incident from Perth.
All were cross examined by both Griffin and the AFL’s Legal Counsel, Jeff Gleeson.
In the end, evidence from Margetts was probably the decisive factor in the case.
The umpire said he was only five metres from the pair when Brogan admitted he bumped the Bomber as the players were walking to their respective huddles.
Lovett, despite saying he had “copped harder hits” on the field, said he didn’t expect contact to be made once the siren had sounded.
Brogan suggested the Bomber had “milked the incident for all it was worth” but said the pair had shaken hands after the match.
“He said ‘there’s nothing in it … I’ll look after you if anything comes of it’,” Brogan told the Tribunal.
However while his conduct was not found to be intentional, the Tribunal still deemed it reckless and outed the Power ruckman ahead of his team’s clash with the Dean Cox-led Eagles.
In the night’s other case, Geelong’s good week at the Tribunal continued when forward Steve Johnson was found not guilty of attempting to strike Hawk Luke Hodge.
Johnson wasn’t risking a ban but instead challenging the 80 demerit points attached to the charge.
The Tribunal considered the mercurial Cat’s impeccable record during his previous seven seasons and believed him when he said he was trying to brush off Hodge, whom he was angry at for an incident moments earlier involving teammate Mathew Stokes.
“I believe that if I had of attempted to strike him I would have struck him,” Johnson said.
Earlier in the day, Hawthorn ruckman Simon Taylor accepted the two-match ban offered to him for kneeing Geelong’s Joel Selwood.
Carlton’s Kade Simpson accepted a reprimand and 70.31 points towards his future record for making forceful front-on contact with Richmond’s Daniel Jackson, while Sydney Swan Adam Goodes accepted a $1950 fine for negligent contact with umpire Ray Chamberlain in his side’s loss to St Kilda.
