Collingwood’s Ben Johnson’s season is over after being handed a six-match ban by the Match Review Panel.
Johnson was charged with making ‘forceful front-on contact’ when he collided with courageous defender Daniel Bell whilst his head was over the ball.
Bell subsequently had to be removed from the ground on a stretcher, and is only a 50-50 chance of playing this week.
The Match Review Panel accessed the incident as reckless conduct (two points), severe impact (four points) and high contact (two points), making it a total of eight activation points, resulting in a classification of a Level Five offence, drawing 750 demerit points and a seven-match sanction. Johnson had 70.31 demerit points carried over from within the last 12 months, increasing the penalty to 820.31 points and an eight-match sanction. An early plea reduces the penalty by 25 per cent to 615.23 points and a six-match sanction.