Richmond's Rhyan Mansell has seen his three-game suspension for rough conduct upheld at the AFL Tribunal.

Mansell and the Tigers contested the AFL Match Review Officer's charge, which was handed down after Saturday's contest between Richmond and St Kilda.

A first-quarter incident from that match saw Mansell and Saint Liam O'Connell under a flighted ball before the latter was pushed into a contest between Tom Lynch and Anthony Caminiti.

As a result of the collision, O'Connell has entered concussion protocols and will miss this week's fixture.

Mansell's actions were graded as careless conduct, severe impact and high contact, resulting in the three-game suspension being handed down.

The Tigers challenged the charge in that Mansell's actions were reasonable in the circumstances, and that the 'conduct' element of the charge did not warrant the grading of 'careless'.

Mansell gave evidence at Tuesday's hearing, stating he did not try to push O'Connell into or into the path of Lynch and Caminiti.

The young Tigers forward said he 'didn't know they were there' and that he 'didn't believe' there was much force in his push on O'Connell, nor that it changed O'Connell's direction.

The AFL and the Tribunal quizzed Mansell and his Counsel Sam Tovey as to why Mansell would push O'Connell toward where the ball would be landing. Mansell said he had hoped O'Connell would drop the ball.

The Tigers relied on evidence footage of another incident from this year involving West Coast's Reuben Ginbey and Richmond's Sam Lalor that left the latter with a fractured jaw. No charge was handed down by the MRO to Ginbey for that incident.

The AFL, led by Counsel Sally Flynn, went against the Tigers in arguing that the Ginbey incident was not comparable with the Mansell case.

The AFL also argued that Mansell had not contested for the ball, that he should have been aware of Lynch and Caminiti, and that he pushed O'Connell after the latter had let go of his opponent.

Following deliberations, the AFL Tribunal decided to uphold the charge against Mansell.

The suspension will mean Mansell will miss upcoming games against Brisbane, Fremantle and Gold Coast, with a return game scheduled for Round 7 against Melbourne.