THE AFL TRIBUNAL has suspended Tom Jonas for six games.
It earlier found Jonas guilty of intentionally striking West Coast’s Andrew Gaff in last Saturday night’s game at the Adelaide Oval.
As he contested one aspect of the charge - the intent - he was ineligible for a discount on his penalty, of which counsel representing the tribunal Jeff Gleeson QC recommended to be a seven-match ban.
Jonas appeared before the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday to answer a charge referred directly to the AFL Tribunal for striking West Coast’s Andrew Gaff.
Represented by Mark Griffin QC, Jonas pleaded guilty to the charge of striking, but contested the assessment of his intent.
At no point did the defence contest the assessments of high contact or severe impact.
Originally graded as intentional conduct, Mr Griffin argued Jonas’s intent should be graded as ‘careless.’
Jonas described himself as being in “two minds” about whether to effect a spoil in the contest with Gaff or brace for contact with the West Coast forward.
He ultimately described the scenario as a “clumsy error” that resulted in contact to the back of Gaff’s head.
Mr Gleeson contested that Jonas formed an intent to make contact – a strike – to Gaff in the final stages of his approach to the contest, and thus justifying the Match Review Panel’s determination of the strike as ‘intentional.’
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