Hawthorn to target “flexibility” of defender’s suspension grading at Tribunal

Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell believes defender Jack Scrimshaw has a chance at reducing his sentence for a striking action on Essendon's Jordan Ridley.

A swinging left arm inadvertently clocked Ridley's head in the second quarter of Friday night's Round 1 encounter, however, the Essendon backman continued to play on. Ridley was later subbed out of the contest in the third quarter due to a concussion from the Scrimshaw hit.

The Match Review Officer (MRO) graded the incident as careless conduct, severe impact and high contact, meeting the criteria for a three-match ban.

Scrimshaw, who was concussed himself from a friendly-fire head clash with new teammate Josh Battle, will miss the Thursday night Carlton clash through concussion protocols and his ban, as well as two blockbusters against GWS in Round 3 and Port Adelaide in Round 5.

With Hawthorn's Round 4 bye, a three-game suspension will see Scrimshaw make his return in the Easter Monday clash against Geelong. However, the Hawks have the belief that Scrimshaw's sentence can be reduced or overturned, heading to the Tribunal to appeal the grading on Tuesday.

A change in Scrimshaw's grading from severe to high impact could see the 26-year-old's suspension reduced to two weeks, which Hawthorn may argue given Ridley played out the rest of the second quarter following the hit.

Sam Mitchell avoided specific MRO phrasing that would suggest Hawthorn's desired outcome but said to media on Tuesday that the Hawks were looking to target "flexibility" in the grading of Scrimshaw's case.

"I don't know the exact specifics of the language, I know that it's been graded as high as it possibly can," Mitchell said.

"We think there's potentially some flexibility in how it's been graded, so we're hopeful to get him back a little bit quicker."

Scrimshaw will front the tribunal on Tuesday night along with North Melbourne defender Jackson Archer, who is facing a three-match ban for concussing Bulldog Luke Cleary, as well as Tom Lynch, who is facing a one-match ban for a high bump on Carlton's Tom De Koning.