Supportive testimony from Geelong captain Joel Selwood may not help North Melbourne star Brent Harvey avoid a one week ban at the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday night.
Harvey is contesting a one week suspension for rough conduct after a clash left Selwood bleeding during last Friday's semi-final at the MCG.
Speaking on Footy Classified on Monday night, Selwood played down the incident.
"Those collisions happen throughout the night. We've all seen it. It was very minor, the contact. I was running at speed, he was coming at me at speed. It happens, accidents happen.
"It was no harder than I've copped … I've copped a lot bigger hits."
Selwood also noted that he is susceptible to bleeding, which some pundits have argued might help Harvey's case.
"I do bleed, maybe it's my genetics, I don't know. I've had a number of cuts during my career, I've been taped up a number of times."
But veteran tribunal member and player advocate Iain Findlay told radio station SEN on Tuesday morning that Selwood's bloody predisposition would not help the North Melbourne speedster.
"No, that's irrelevant, the fact that there is scar tissue, and it's not an issue of whether a player has blood or not. The issue is with the new guidelines you are not allowed to make contact with the head. The head is sacrosanct. The fact that you jump and then make contact – it is irrelevant whether there is blood or not."
Findlay said that the new guidelines mean the Kangaroos will have to put a submission to the tribunal chairman and suggest to him "what evidence they wish to adduce from Selwood" before his point of view can even be considered.
"He just can't turn up and appear."
Findlay believes North Melbourne has no choice but to argue that the blow was of insufficient force.
"You've got to deal in facts. Here's the three facts that are involved in this case: 'Boomer' [Harvey] runs past the ball; [fellow Kangaroos player Andrew] Swallow is running with Selwood; Boomer elects to bump.
"The crucial part will be: is that sufficient force? Was that a block to try and stop him getting to the ball? Was that to try to let Swallow release?"
Asked whether he thought Harvey would escape sanction, Findlay said Harvey had expert counsel which would prepare thoroughly.
"But if the jury accepts what the MRP has put up, Boomer is going to get a week."
Harvey's potential suspension is causing heated comment.
Speaking Monday night on Talking Footy, Harvey's former premiership teammate Wayne Carey labelled the MRP recommendation on Harvey a "disgrace" and a "terrible decision".
"The things that he's got rubbed out [for] is because there was a bit of blood on Joel Selwood. It is an absolute disgrace that we can rub a player out for a preliminary final – I mean this isn't just an ordinary game – for a week for that."
Colleague and former Western Bulldogs player Luke Darcy went further.
"I am outraged by it. I think the system is completely wrong, it is out of control. There's a tight legality around it … which just doesn't work.
"We had a legal operator who came in and decided 'negligent' and 'forceful' and all these words were going to define the game. They don't work, you need the law of common sense."
Darcy said Harvey's "accidental" contact with Selwood happens in basketball "15 times a game".
"I just think you keep this going as far as you can if you're North Melbourne. I hate things ending up in the court but I'd explore that if I was 'Boomer' Harvey.
"I'd be thinking everything you possibly can. It's a restraint of trade, the system is wrong and he misses a final which is completely unfair."
On Tuesday morning on SEN, former Essendon great Tim Watson said Harvey would not have been given a week if he had appeared before a tribunal, rather than being dealt with by the Match Review Panel and its contentious points system.
Selwood attributed his grappling with Harvey after their clash to the "heat of the moment".
"You're so emotional and you invest so much in the game and the season and that's what it is. It's a final. I was more disappointed that I was going to be off the ground for anywhere from three minutes - where you just get the tape around your head [and] get back - or 10 minutes when you're getting stitched up downstairs you're hearing the roar of the crowd you don't know what's going on…
"You feel you've let the side down for not being available for your team."
