North Melbourne‘s Brent Harvey has been cleared of rough conduct charges by the AFL Tribunal and will be available to be picked for Friday night’s preliminary final against the Sydney Swans.
Harvey was contesting the 1-match suspension handed down by the match review panel on Monday for his hit on Geelong skipper Joel Selwood. The tribunal’s decision to overturn the ban was reached after they determined the hit was not forceful enough, reports Fairfax Media.
That decision was helped in part by favourable evidence given to the Tribunal from the Geelong captain himself, who agreed with Harvey’s view that their two bodies made contact before the head clash, meaning the impact to Selwood’s head was “very minimal”.
Selwood also told the hearing that he only checked his forehead once he felt blood trickling down the side of his face and photographic evidence submitted proved that he was prone to cuts and bleeding in that particular area. Legal counsel Jeff Gleeson QC said that Selwood was the “league leader of bleeders”.
The Geelong captain’s personal evidence reportedly corroborated all of Harvey’s defence case during the 100-minute hearing, with the jury deciding in just 10 minutes to overturn Harvey’s ban.
Asked about the evidence from Selwood that helped convince the tribunal, Harvey responded: “I think he just told the truth, but if I see him out after we play the grand final I’ll buy him a beer.”
Harvey is now clear to play Friday night’s preliminary final against the Swans at Sydney’s Olympic stadium. It will be North Melbourne’s first preliminary final since 2007.
