Tayloy Duryea's fairytale of finishing his football career at the Western Bulldogs with a premiership remains alive after overturning a three-match VFL suspension to one week.
Although the AFL side is out of contention, the Footscray Bulldogs, who finished as minor premiers, will await their opponent in next weekend's preliminary final in the hope of making it to the decider.
Last month, the 34-year-old announced that he'd be retiring from top-flight football at the conclusion of 2025, putting an end to his time at Hawthorn and the Bulldogs over 16 seasons.
But after two flags with the Hawks, there was a chance for more glory with Footscray, which looked all but over following the qualifying final against the Frankston Dolphins.
A rough conduct incident on Frankston's Bailey Lambert from the opening term of the weekend's VFL qualifying final has seen Duryea offered a base sanction of four matches.
That penalty can be reduced to three games with an early plea, which would still see the former Hawks' hopes of a VFL premiership dashed.
The incident in question has been graded as intentional conduct, high impact and high contact, resulting in a heavy penalty.
However, following Wednesday night's Tribunal hearing, the Bulldogs successfully argued Duryea's charge down from intentional conduct to careless, as well as from high impact to medium.
Although the 34-year-old will miss the preliminary final, he is still eligible for the grand final, if Footscray make it to the decider.
The Bulldogs and Southport advanced to the preliminary finals last Saturday. This weekend, Box Hill will face Brisbane, and Frankston will play Casey in the semi-finals.
