PORT ADELAIDE forward Lindsay Thomas has been handed a three-game ban after pleading guilty to rough conduct at his AFL Tribunal hearing on Tuesday evening.

Thomas pleaded guilty at first opportunity, citing sincere remorse over the incident which occurred during the Power’s Round 5 clash with Geelong, and apologising unreservedly to Scott Selwood.

The AFL sought a four-week sanction (to run in addition to Thomas’ existing 1-match ban for striking) on the basis that the bump was careless and with severe impact.

Port Adelaide’s representative proposed a three-week sanction was appropriate, arguing the impact was ‘marginally' severe.

Port Adelaide referenced two previous cases – Jeremy Cameron’s bump on Rhys Mathieson in 2014 (graded as severe; a four-match sanction) and Zac Dawson’s hit on Jake Lloyd in 2016 (graded one degree down – high impact; a three-match ban).

Port Adelaide’s representative compared Thomas’ case with these examples, arguing the Power player’s incident was only marginally over the line between high and severe, and at “the lower end” of this scale.

Port Adelaide also asked the Tribunal to factor in Thomas’ early guilty plea.

After around five minutes of deliberation, the Tribunal returned to hand down a three-game sanction to Thomas, to run in addition to an existing one-game ban for striking Joel Selwood in the same game.

In total, the sanctions will keep Thomas sidelined until Round 11.
 
Speaking after the tribunal, Thomas apologised again to Selwood and his teammates.

“I thought I had a fair hearing and I accept the sanction handed down to me,” he said.

“I hope Scott’s okay – I didn’t go out there intentionally to hurt him.

“I will work my backside off for the next few weeks…I want to apologise to my teammates and the footy club.

“I’m going to move on from this and come back soon.”

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