Port Adelaide star Shaun Burgoyne scored a partial victory at the AFL tribunal on Tuesday night but it was not enough to prevent the Power's most influential midfielder from copping a three-match suspension after being found guilty of rough conduct for his head-high bump on Hawthorn skipper Sam Mitchell.
The loss of the classy Burgoyne - the runner-up in the 2006 best and fairest - is a massive blow for the Power and comes at a time when last year's runners-up is precariously placed in season 2008.
Port has won just three of its first eight games and sits a game outside the top eight with a place in the top four already looking well out of reach.
And now Burgoyne will miss matches against fellow top eight rivals Sydney at AAMI Stadium this week followed by a trip to Perth to face Fremantle and then a home match against improved Carlton.
Burgoyne could have accepted a three-match ban from the match review panel for his bump on Mitchell - which resulted in the Hawks' star being taken from a stretcher during last Saturday's clash in Launceston - but by challenging the charge he risked a four-match ban after the panel ruled his actions as negligent conduct, high impact and high contact.
But while Burgoyne was found guilty of negligent conduct and the high contact was not in dispute, the three-man jury of former players Wayne Henwood, David Pittman and Wayne Schimmelbusch downgraded the high impact to medium impact.
This meant that Burgoyne escaped with 318.75 points and a three-match ban rather than 418.75 points and a four-match ban had he been found guilty of high impact.
However in the end Burgoyne received the same sentence that he could have accepted from the match review panel and the Port star could have saved himself sitting through a marathon 75 minute hearing followed by an agonising 37 minute deliberation - one of the longest of recent times at the AFL tribunal.
Burgoyne maintained throughout the hearing that he had only made accidental contact to Mitchell, rather than negligent contact, as the pair came together for a contested ball in Launceston.
"I had my eyes on the ball the whole time and I braced myself for shoulder to shoulder contact," Burgoyne told the tribunal.
But instead Burgoyne said he did not make contact with Mitchell as he expected because the bounce of the ball deviated, resulting in Burgoyne then slipping over and making contact to Mitchell's face with his back as he fell to the ground.
Burgoyne's counsel Mark Griffin QC insisted the jury should find Burgoyne not guilty because of what he said was the accidental nature of the collision but the AFL's legal counsel Andrew Tinney successfully argued that Burgoyne had meant to bump Mitchell because he changed direction at the last minute in order to make contact.
"The (television) footage shows he (Burgoyne) changed direction not to get the football but to ensure his body made contact with Mitchell," Tinney said.
And Tinney also argued the jury should rule that Burgoyne's actions constitute high impact "when it has led to a player being knocked unconscious."
However the fact that Mitchell later returned to the field to play a starring role in the Hawks' come-from-behind win and the fact the Hawks' skipper provided supporting evidence for Burgoyne - by way of a letter -