Crows veteran Taylor Walker has unsuccessfully fought his one-match sanction for rough conduct, after he sent young Geelong key defender Connor O'Sullivan hurtling dangerously into a marking contest during Thursday night's epic.
After a rather short hearing, followed by a comparatively short deliberation period, Tribunal chair Jeff Gleeson KC delivered the verdict, which centred around the clear potential to cause injury. Given such potential, the impact grading could not be altered, and the charge was upheld.
In giving evidence, Adelaide's legal counsel, barrister Andrew Culshaw implored the Tribunal to overturn both the severity of impact and and position of the contact in the incident.
"The Tribunal ought not to be comfortably satisfied that the contact was correctly graded as high," Culshaw said.
"If you are, and again I emphasise this as an alternative argument, our submission is that you should not be comfortably satisfied that the impact was correctly graded as medium, when it was at most, negligible, but at the very most that could rationally become our submission, (it was) low impact.
"My submission is that the impact to the head, if there was any at all, which we say there wasn't, was of such a light nature that there was no meaningful potential to cause injury."
It was a point Culshaw was eager to drive home, doubling down later in the proceedings.
"In my respectful submission, you can't be comfortably satisfied that there was any high contact at all, fortunate though it may be for everyone involved," he said.
"But if you're against me and if you're against us on that, you have the Form 31 medical report which refers to the ARC referral and a brief HIA.
"And if you find that there was any contact that was high between Dawson and O'Sullivan in the end, my submission is that if it was, there was very little such contact and that the impact was negligible or low at the very most."
Walker will miss the Crows next mouthwatering clash with a reinvigorated Bulldogs outfit this Thursday night as a result of the reasonably short Tribunal hearing.
The AFL's legal representation, Ms Amara Hughes, explained the AFL's case in response to Mr Culshaw, while referencing footage of the incident.
"Our case is that there is high contact; there is actual contact made to the head, neck and the top of the shoulders, and also that that contact itself was forceful, and came at a force. This is our case at its most simplistic," Hughes said, while pointing out the underpinning foundations of the AFL's case.
"The AFL's view is that the impact grading of medium impact is appropriate based on the following four factors," she said.
"The first of those factors is the actual impact of the collision itself, (which) is seen on the footage, and is significant.
"Secondly, there is an injury that is suffered in the report and that is a shoulder injury as outlined in the medical report provided. That injury is supportive of the fact that there was some force in the collision itself, and the collision not only involved his shoulder but also included his head.
"The third point is that the potential to cause injury in these circumstances was high.
"The fourth and final reason is that player O'Sullivan's reaction supports that the impact was at the very least, medium," Hughes finished, while referencing that Crow Jordan Dawson was also "clearly impacted".
With over 300 games at the top level under his belt, the 36-year-old Walker will have to wait another week to continue his chase for 700 goals - a milestone just over the horizon - and in so doing, he will join a club housing just 27 other names in the lengthy history of the V/AFL.
