Hawthorn captain Luke Hodge has been suspended for three matches after pleading guilty to striking North Melbourne star Andrew Swallow.
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It means the defender will miss matches against Greater Western Sydney and Melbourne over the next fortnight, as well as the grand final re-match against Sydney in round eight.
Hodge’s strike, which occurred in the opening quarter of the Hawks’ 60-point win on Saturday, was referred directly to the tribunal by the AFL match review committee.
The premiership skipper was apologetic when leaving AFL House, saying he would “cop” the ban and move on.
“I definitely did not mean to get him as high as I did, but in saying that I was silly enough to do it and have to cop the punishment,” Hodge is quoted as saying by AFL.com.au.
“I don’t stand for that as a footballer and I don’t stand for that as a person.
“I definitely believe there’s no room in our game for incidents like that, (so) I’ll cop the three weeks and move on from there.”
In other AFL tribunal news, Gold Coast midfielder Steven May also received a three-match ban after he was found guilty of engaging in rough conduct with Brisbane Lions captain Tom Rockliff during the Suns’ big win on Saturday.
May was offered a two-game suspension with an early guilty plea, however he unsuccessfully chose to fight the sanction at the tribunal.
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