St Kilda's charge towards an unlikely finals berth suffered a setback on Monday night with big man Justin Koschitzke rubbed out for one week by the AFL's match review panel.
Koschitzke was cited for a late hit on Hawthorn's Robert Campbell, where he slammed into the back of the Hawks ruckman in the second quarter of Saturday night's match at Telstra Dome.
He was not reported on the night, but the late hit resulted in a 50-metre penalty.
The panel said Koschitzke's actions were reckless and contact high.
St Kilda, which plays an uncompetitive Carlton this week, risks also losing Koschitzke for its round-18 match against the Western Bulldogs if it unsuccessfully challenges the suspension at the AFL tribunal.
But Koschitzke did escape further punishment for another incident involving a marking contest against Jordan Lewis.
The panel said Koschitzke was moving forward to mark the football while Lewis was backing back and contact was "unavoidable in the circumstances".
In other decisions, Melbourne midfielder Simon Godfrey's match-day report for front-on contact on the Kangaroos' Scott McMahon was withdrawn.
Godfrey went into the umpires' book when his upper thigh hit McMahon, who had his head over the ball.
But the match review panel ruled contact was outside of Godfrey's control and could not be "reasonably foreseen".
"(Brent) Harvey blocked the Melbourne player's view of McMahon, as the Kangaroo player bent to contest the ball," the match review panel said, adding that McMahon fell into the path of Godfrey after trying to tap the ball to Harvey with his right hand.
"Godfrey did not have the opportunity to alter his line, to avoid the contact."
Western Bulldogs midfielder Adam Cooney can accept a reprimand for his strike on Geelong's Cameron Ling.
The third-quarter incident saw Cooney deliver punch to Ling's stomach area and was assessed as intentional conduct.
Also, Brisbane Lions midfielder Nigel Lappin has been fined $2400 for colliding with field umpire Gary Fila in the second term of Sunday's thumping of Carlton at the Gabba.