North Melbourne have not risked a two-match suspension for midfielder Ben Cunnington at the tribunal, accepting a one-match ban after the former best and fairest was cited by the match review panel on Monday for rough conduct.
Midfielder Cunnington had been offered the reduced sentence with an early guilty plea, for a knee to the head of Hawthorn's Taylor Duryea during Sunday's JLT Community series match at Arden Street.
"We're obviously disappointed not to have Ben available for our season opener against the Eagles, but based on the classification handed to us by the MRP and after taking legal advice, there were no solid grounds for us to challenge the charge," North's football boss, Cameron Joyce, told NMFC.com.au.
Duryea was on hands and knees trying to gain control of the ball as Cunnington ran towards him. Duryea punched the ball away just before Cunnington arrived, but the Roo's knee still hit the Hawk's face. Duryea received a bloodied face in the incident, but returned to the field after receiving treatment and played out the game.
The MRP assessed the incident as "careless conduct with medium impact to the head."
North thought about challenging the careless aspect of the charge, but were cognisant of a player's duty of care to protect the ball carrier, which would likely have worked against the 2014 Syd Barker medallist.
Cunnington will miss the club's round one clash against West Coast at Etihad Stadium. Cunnington would have missed the round two game against Geelong at Etihad if North decided to head to the tribunal and were unsuccessful.
Cunnington's charge came as further unwanted news for North, following training injuries suffered at training late last week by tagger Ben Jacobs and forward Mason Wood. Jacobs was due to undergo surgery after re-injuring the fifth metatarsal in his foot - the same injury that plagued him for much of last season. Wood hurt his hamstring with scans revealing a strain. The club says both players are expected to miss six to eight weeks.
Those setbacks have soured a solid JLT campaign for North, who have posted wins over both Sydney and Hawthorn. The Roos' final pre-seasom match is against Greater Western Sydney in Canberra on Friday week.
North captain Jack Ziebell said on Monday that the side's JLT form was pleasing, but wasn't getting carried away. "It solidifies some of the things we're doing in the pre-season, we've done well," Ziebell said in Hobart.
"But...we've got a lot to work on, a lot to improve before round one to make sure we're competitive this year and a really hard side to play against."
Ben Cunnington has been offered a one match ban with an early plea for rough conduct. Details: https://t.co/Zj7WMwECBS pic.twitter.com/ve8GkyKagB— North Melbourne (@NMFCOfficial) February 27, 2017
Cunnington, 25, was one of two players suspended by the MRP following the weekend's JLT matches. The other one is Port Adelaide's Nathan Krakouer, also offered one week for a high bump on St Kilda veteran Sean Dempster.
Melbourne forward Jesse Hogan has also been offered a $1000 fine for making contact with an umpire during his side's win over Carlton on Saturday.
Meanwhile no women were suspended for incidents during the latest round of AFLW matches. Brisbane Lions' Kaitlyn Ashmore and Megan Hunt, and Western Bulldogs star Emma Kearney can all accept reprimands for incidents, while Melbourne's Elise O'Dea and Fremantle's Stephanie Cain have been cleared following MRP scrutiny.
