Brownlow medal favourite Isaac Heeney's suspension has been upheld with the Sydney star hit with a one-match ban for a strike on St Kilda's Jimmy Webster.
The Swans gun was involved in an incident deep in the third quarter that was unsighted by the umpires and eventually resulted in a goal to himself.
Sydney elected to appeal the tribunal's decision again, but it was dismissed at the AFL Appeals Board on Thursday night.
It officially ends Heeney's Brownlow Medal chances, with his suspension ruling him out of contention.
The Sporting News has all the latest.
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Swans' appeal for Heeney's Webster strike dismissed
The Sydney Swans opted to once again fight the AFL's decision, appealing the tribunal's decision to uphold Heeney's suspension.
The AFL Match Review report following Sunday's games deemed the incident to be intentional conduct with low impact to the head – a charge that carries a one-match suspension.
Heeney and the Swans appealed the suspension, arguing that the striking was careless instead of intentional.
"He's taller than me and where his hands were on my back is where I was swatting," Heeney said Tuesday night during his first appeal.
"I wanted to swat his hands away, I didn't want to hit him anywhere other than the hands.
"With your forward craft this happens a lot … probably 50 to 100 times in some games."
Heeney has been fined just twice in his 193-game career, yet his character and defence weren't enough to overturn the ruling the first time around.
In their second appeal – which cost the Swans $10,000 – the Swans we required to argue that there was either an error of law in the decision, that the tribunal acted unreasonably, or that the classification or sanction was manifestly excessive.
They were ultimately successful, with the appeal dismissed on Thursday evening.
Sydney host North Melbourne at the SCG on Saturday.
Video: Heeney's strike on Webster
With around two minutes left on the clock in the third quarter, Heeney was engaged one-on-one with Webster and before the ball was kicked forward, he thrust his arm back and struck the St Kilda player in the nose.
Webster was felled by the high contact, which allowed Heeney to take an uncontested mark and kick a crucial goal - which ultimately didn't cost the Saints as they won by two points.
However, Webster was left bleeding from the nose but he didn't appear to come from the ground to deal with the injury - as the trainers mopped the blood up while he remained on the field.
Isaac Heeney was involved in this incident with Jimmy Webster late in the third quarter.#AFLSaintsSwans pic.twitter.com/jjOpkrVxts
— AFL (@AFL) July 7, 2024
What are Isaac Heeney's Brownlow Medal implications following suspension?
With Heeney's suspension once again upheld, the Sydney gun is ineligible to win the Brownlow Medal.
Before the incident, Heeney was the overwhelming favourite to win the award, and removing him from contention would mean Carlton captain Patrick Cripps assumes favouritism for the award, with Nick Daicos, Marcus Bontempelli and Zach Merrett also in contention.
In AFL history, three ineligible players have won the Brownlow Medal but missed out on the award – Corey McKernan (1996), Chris Grant (1997) and Jobe Watson (2012).
