KEY forward Chris Dawes has accepted a one-match suspension for striking Richmond defender Alex Rance.

Dawes will miss Melbourne’s clash against Port Adelaide at TIO Traeger Park in round 11, given it has the bye this weekend.

Manager of football operations Josh Mahoney said the Demons were tempted to challenge, but felt the risks associated and the possibility of us winning it weren’t enough.

“We were tempted to challenge the grading in this instant, but the evidence of the vision and the medical report made it too much of a risk for us to challenge,” he told melbournefc.com.au.

“Unfortunately, this will mean Chris means our next game, but in not challenging, we weren’t prepared to take the risk for Chris to miss two games.

“Unfortunately, he’ll miss our game in Alice Springs, but he will take the opportunity to freshen up and be raring to go for the second half of the year.”

The star Demon was charged with a level three striking offence (225 demerit points, two-match sanction).

The incident happened in the first quarter of Melbourne’s 17-point win over Richmond at the MCG on Saturday.

In summary, he was offered a one-match sanction with an early plea.

Based on the video evidence available and a medical report from Richmond, the incident was assessed as reckless conduct (two points), medium impact (two points) and high contact (two points).

This was a total of six activation points, resulting in a classification of a level two offence, drawing 225 demerit points and a two-match sanction. Dawes had no existing good or bad record. An early plea reduced the sanction by 25 per cent to 168.75 demerit points and a one-match sanction.