North Melbourne star Tristan Xerri would have risked a hefty AFL ban had he not shown remorse for wiping blood from Essendon captain Andrew McGrath’s face.
Xerri will miss North’s next three matches after pleading guilty to a gross misconduct charge.
The only issue at Monday’s tribunal hearing was the severity of the suspension, with the AFL wanting three games and Norths arguing for two games.
When awarding the fine, tribunal chairman Jeff Gleeson Casey said it was “disgraceful behaviour” and said Zerrie’s hand was close to McGrath’s open mouth.
“The ‘look’ of the act is quite shocking,” Gleeson said. But he also said Zeri “made no effort” to minimize what happened and called the evidence “impressive.”
The tribunal said that Zeri’s admission in evidence that there was blood on his hands had “some significance”, even though the video footage did not make this clear.
Gleeson said, “Had it not been for Mr. Zeri’s initial plea and his impressive, candid and remorseful evidence, we would have considered a sanction of more than three weeks appropriate.”
Zerry will miss the Good Friday game against Carlton and then the matches against Brisbane and Richmond. He was sent straight to the tribunal and stated in evidence that the strange incident was “mind-numbing”.
As expected, Zéri threw himself at the mercy of the tribunal. The incident during Saturday night’s game overshadowed North’s 12-point victory over the Bombers.
Monday’s hearing took place a day earlier than usual.
The incident occurred after the North Melbourne big man complained to the umpire about a bleeding nose before kicking a goal and getting into a physical altercation with McGrath.
Zeri then touched his bloody nose and wiped his hand on McGrath’s face.
Ruckman called McGrath to apologise, citing evidence that it had been a good conversation, and saying that he “fully accepted” the mistake.
Xerri said he reacted after being sledged by Essendon opponents. He had just scored a goal with a free kick.
“I was being called the ‘weak C-word,’ the ‘impressive, unsuccessful C-word,'” she said. “What I did is not right. I am sorry and I sincerely apologize for it.”
“It was just a lapse in judgment. There’s no excuses, buddy. That’s a bad look. I was brain-faded. I was defending myself and at that very moment my brain faded. I should have done better.”
The incident was widely condemned ahead of the hearing, with AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon saying on Sunday that it was “something we don’t want to see”.
North tried to draw comparisons to previous cases, where Nathan Buckley and Jeremy Howe received one-game bans for wiping blood on opponents’ uniforms.
But Gleeson said those incidents were “much less serious.”
