Lance Franklin will not face reigning Premier Melbourne on Saturday night after the Sydney superstar failed to cancel his one-game suspension for strike cancellation.
Franklin was given a one-match ban for an off-the-ball strike on former Richmond captain Trent Cochin at the SCG last Friday night.
At the time of the verdict, tribunal chairman Jeff Gleason said the 1023-goal Great Strike was “aggressive and forceful”.
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“Mr. Franklin wanted to hurt Mr. Cochin,” Gleason said.
“He was looking directly at her. Her response was spontaneous and intentional.”
Franklin and his counsel, Duncan Miller, argued that it was not a strike, not intentional, and that the impact was negligible rather than minimal.
The AFL’s match review officer rated the incident as intentional behavior, low impact, and high communication.
“I’m tempted to say that he may be invited to the lodge this year, and not Brownlow,” Miller said of Cochin at a colorful tribunal hearing.
But AFL counsel Andrew Woods claimed that Franklin’s actions were “fearless” and “cowardly”.
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Franklin and his counsel tried to reduce the fine, but Gleason, after absorbing more than an hour of evidence, refused.
Franklin led the Swans to a six-point victory over the Tigers with five goals, but the four-time Coleman medalist’s brain faded.
The Swans are in seventh place before clashing with the Demons, who are clear on a win at the top of the stairs but lost by 38 points to Fremantle last Saturday afternoon.
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