Tom Lynch has had his tribunal appeal against a one-match suspension for a high bump on Carlton's Tom De Koning upheld.
Lynch turned to bump Tom De Koning who had grabbed the ball out of a shallow throw-in, however slipped his shoulder high and clipped De Koning in the head.
De Koning was not concussed by the incident and played out the remainder of the match.
The grading of careless conduct, medium impact and high contact deemed Lynch should receive a one-match ban.
Tom Lynch has received a one-match suspension for this incident involving Tom De Koning.
Full match review findings: https://t.co/roq8Q8vwAX pic.twitter.com/k0UyqTr3GK
— AFL (@AFL) March 14, 2025
At Tuesday night's Tribunal hearing, Lynch argued that a slight shove from Carlton defender Jacob Weitering accelerated his momentum towards De Koning and into a dangerous position.
The key forward stated that he felt "vulnerable" when Weitering pushed him lower to the ground, and as he turned upright to protect his head from oncoming traffic he braced for contact from De Koning, resulting in the high bump on the Blues tall.
Lynch felt he had "very, very little" time to prepare for contact with De Koning, and stated he never initially wanted to bump Lynch until after the shove from Weitering, which was further asserted by Lynch's lawyer Sam Tovey and video evidence.
Tovey also argued that the bump was not rough conduct.
The AFL's defence was that Weitering's nudge was not of enough force to impact Lynch's momentum and that Lynch chose to bump with adequate time to prepare for contact.
The AFL's lawyer Andrew Woods stated that Lynch's momentum towards De Koning was not heavily impacted by a shove and thus his decision to bump was not due to a lack of time to brace for a collision.
Following deliberation, the Tribunal determined that Tom Lynch's actions deserved his one-match ban and was hence upheld.
The tribunal found that the shove was not indicative of Lynch's actions and that Lynch made the choice to bump, which resulted in high, careless contact.
Lynch will miss the Round 2 Port Adelaide clash this Saturday, with a return to be against St Kilda in Round 3.
