Hawthorn defender Kyle Hartigan has been hit with a three-match suspension after footage of an off-ball hit on Carlton star Sam Walsh surfaced on social media.
Hartigan was charged with striking Walsh in Carlton’s 23-point win over the Hawks as Walsh came up to block teammate Harry McKay’s defender deep in the forward line in the final quarter.
As Walsh sprinted towards McKay, Hartigan unleashed what appeared to be a right elbow to the face of the Blues star, sending him crashing to the turf, before the siren sounded to confirm Carlton’s win just seconds later.
The incident was assessed as “intentional conduct, high impact “and” high contact” by the AFL’s Match Review Officer, Michael Christian.
Hartigan was not the only player to incur the wrath of Christian’s Match Review, with Suns defender Nick Holman and Carlton’s Lachie Plowman both handed two-match bans.
Holman received his suspension for a chase-down tackle which left Geelong star Mitch Duncan concussed in Geelong’s convincing win over the Gold Coast.
Holman was charged with “rough conduct” for his tackle, with the incident assessed as “careless conduct, high impact (and) high contact”.
Plowman was charged with “engaging in rough conduct” against Hawthorn star Jaeger O’Meara in the fourth-quarter of Carlton’s win, with the incident assessed as “careless conduct, high impact (and) high contact”.
It remains unclear whether the teams involved will contest the charges of the players.
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