Carlton midfielder Adam Cerra's one-game suspension for striking has been reduced to a fine following an AFL Tribunal hearing on Wednesday morning.

Cerra and the Blues challenged the onballer's ban after an incident from Sunday's win over Geelong involving Cats player Jack Bowes earned the ire of the AFL's Match Review Officer.

The incident in question was graded as intentional conduct, low impact and high contact, with the Blues taking the matter to the AFL Tribunal in the hope of freeing Cerra for Round 8.

Carlton argued at the Tribunal that the incident didn't warrant the reportable offence of a striking charge, and that if deemed a strike, the conduct provision should be classified as 'careless' instead of 'intentional'. Both arguments would free Cerra to play this weekend.

Carlton Counsel Chris Townshend said the incident was "a push gone wrong", arguing that Cerra's actions came within play and shouldn't fall under the label of 'intentional'.

The AFL, led by Counsel Amara Hughes, said the 'intentional' grading is "justified", and that Cerra was looking at Bowes when he struck him with a "forceful blow".

Cerra gave evidence in the hearing, stating "the contact was with an open hand in a pushing motion".

The Blues midfielder explained his role at the stoppage and his intention when engaging in contact with Bowes.

"At this stoppage, my role is to play the 'cover role', which is stopping anything coming through the front of the stoppage from the opposition," he said.

"I'm trying to protect that space. A lot of teams and players will try and gauge me to open up the stoppage for their players to get through. My role is to protect that space.

"Bowes comes to me and goes to engage body contact through a push. My reaction to that is to push him back to protect the space, as we do 100 times a game.

"I've accidentally got him high. It accidentally slipped up. You watch any other stoppage, and there is the same pushing motion, often to the chest.

"He dropped a little bit to get force into his push. He bends his knee to get more force to push me out of the way."

In the Tribunal's summary of the verdict, Chair Jeff Gleeson said Cerra did strike Bowes with a 'forceful blow' and the act was not with a 'brushing impact'. The Tribunal did state, however, that Cerra did not intentionally strike Bowes, downgrading the grading to 'careless' and therefore dropping the sanction to a fine.

Gleeson added that Bowes lowering himself resulted in Cerra making high contact unintentionally.

The verdict means Cerra will be available for Saturday's clash with Adelaide.