JORDAN Lewis will miss the next three matches and Jesse Hogan will be out for the following two games after both accepted early plea sanctions from the match review panel.
General manager of football operations Josh Mahoney said it was disappointing to lose three players through suspension in the opening two weeks: Bernie Vince in the first round and now Lewis and Hogan.
“After going through the match review panel classification and looking at the medical reports, we’ve decided that we’re going to accept both the early guilty pleas,” he told melbournefc.com.au.
“We’ve spoken to our players about the three of them being involved in three incidents over the last two weeks – three off the ball incidents. We want to be known as a competitive, contested team and these incidents don’t in any way reflect how we want to be viewed.
“The MRP grading and the medical reports make it very difficult to challenge any element of the charges, so we’ll be accepting both the early pleas for both cases.”
Although frustrated to be losing two quality players, Mahoney said it created opportunities for others to make their mark.
“We’re disappointed that we won’t have two key players for a period of time, but we saw last week, with Bernie Vince missing, that it creates opportunities for other players, like Christian Salem, who went to half-back last week and it created an opportunity for James Harmes.
“As disappointed as we are, we look forward to selection and who comes in and who gets an opportunity.”
Lewis was charged for striking Carlton’s Patrick Cripps during the third quarter of Melbourne’s 22-point win at the MCG on Sunday.
His penalty was impacted by a previous bad record, which added one week to his offence.
Based on the available evidence and a medical report from Carlton, the incident was assessed by the MRP as intentional conduct with medium impact to the head.
The incident was classified as a three-match sanction. Lewis’ record increased it by one match to a four-match sanction, but an early plea enabled Lewis to accept a three-match sanction.
It means Lewis will miss Saturday’s clash against Geelong at Etihad Stadium, Melbourne’s round four clash against Fremantle at the MCG and its round five encounter against Richmond at the MCG.
Hogan was charged for striking Sam Rowe, also in the third term.
Based on the available evidence and a medical report from Carlton, the incident was assessed by the MRP as intentional conduct with medium impact to the head.
The incident was classified as a three-match sanction. Hogan had no applicable record, which impacted the penalty. He was therefore able to accept a two-match sanction.
Hogan will now be available for the ANZAC Day eve game against the Tigers.
