Brisbane superstar Lachie Neale will present his case to the Tribunal in the hope of being exonerated of a one-match suspension for his gut-punch on Hawthorn's Jack Ginnivan, to be available for Saturday's Grand Final against Fremantle.
Neale was handed a week-long layoff following the Lions' thrilling nine-point preliminary final win over the Hawks, with the news souring the victory.
However, the two-time Brownlow Medallist isn't alone in this; eight players before him have missed the decider following indiscretions in the games leading up to the Grand Final.
Collingwood copped a double dose in back-to-back years when they faced the Lions in the 2002 and 2003 Grand Finals.
Key defender Jason Cloke was unavailable for the 2002 decider after his attempt to spoil the ball on Adelaide's Tyson Edwards was worthy of a two-game suspension. Cloke was unable to overturn the verdict at the Tribunal.
Pies teammate Anthony Rocca faced a similar fate for his strike on Port Adelaide's Brendon Lade 12 months later. He missed the 2003 Grand Final after a failed trip to the AFL Appeals Board.
Collingwood lost both games.
North Melbourne great Jason McCartney missed the 1999 Grand Final victory after he whacked Brisbane's Clark Keating in the penultimate weekend of the season. The Kangaroos beat Carlton.
Hawthorn's Peter Schwab was suspended for three games in the semi-final for a striking charge on Essendon's Andrew Manning. The Hawks won the grand final against Geelong in arguably the best game of football ever played.
A year earlier, Melbourne ruckman Steven O'Dwyer was rubbed out of the 1988 decider after he was suspended for three matches for striking Carlton's Steven Da Rui in a preliminary final. The Demons lost the Grand Final to Hawthorn.
In 1977, Phil Carman missed the Grand Final and the following week's replay for striking Hawthorn's Michael Tuck in the semi-final. The Pies lost against North Melbourne.
Neville Crowe (1967) and Carl Ditterich (1966) were also absent from their respective clubs' Grand Final victories.
Crowe missed Richmond's premiership win over Geelong after he struck Blues icon John Nicholls, resulting in a four-match suspension.
Ditterick missed St Kilda's sole premiership through a six-game ban for his strike on Fitzroy's Daryl Peoples in the semi-final.
All eight instances happened during the finals series.
West Coast's Andrew Gaff missed the club's 2018 premiership triumph for a strike on Fremantle's Andrew Brayshaw during the home-and-away season.
Gaff was banned for eight matches in Round 20, and returned in Round 3 the following season.
