Blues forward Betts cops three matches

Cleaned up ... Eddie Betts is facing a three-match ban for his shot on Saints' Nathan Wright. Source: Michael Klein / AFP

Carlton forward Eddie Betts has been offered a three-match ban for his bump on young St Kilda defender Nathan Wright.

The incident which forced Wright off the field holding his jaw was deemed reckless with severe impact.

That equates to a five-match suspension but Betts can accept a three-week ban with an early guilty plea due to his previous good tribunal record.

Meanwhile, Essendon victim Brendon Goddard will be called to give evidence at Geelong midfielder James Kelly’s challenge at the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday night.

Goddard is listed as a witness for the defence as Kelly bids to beat a two-match suspension for rough conduct.

It hasn’t been decided yet whether Goddard must appear in person at the hearing at Etihad Stadium starting at 5pm (EST) or give his version of events by speakerphone into the tribunal room.

Kelly was hit with a two-game penalty by the match review panel for a heavy bump to Goddard in the third quarter at Etihad Stadium last Friday night.

The MRP assessed the incident as reckless conduct with low impact.

Kelly is not risking an extra match being added to his penalty even if he fails to convince the three-man jury to overturn his penalty.

After the match on Friday night, Goddard tweeted: “Good hit last night @JamesPopsKelly. Old fashioned shirt front #fair game #play-on #memory bank.”

Geelong coach Chris Scott this morning said the club was still taking a massive gamble by taking the incident to the tribunal.

“It’s not a free hit, not at all,” Scott said, one of the elements of the Cats’ defence would be the classification of whether the hit was indeed a high hit.

“We think there are more than enough grounds to challenge that successfully, so we’ll need to wait and see, but we’re very confident,’’ Scott said

		P	W	D	L	%	Pts
1	Geelong	7	7	0	0	121.43	28
2	Essendon	7	6	0	1	151.47	24
3	Hawthorn	7	6	0	1	131.16	24
4	Port Adelaide	7	5	0	2	122.93	20
5	Sydney	7	5	0	2	121.26	20
6	Fremantle	7	5	0	2	114.95	20
7	Richmond	7	4	0	3	107.86	16
8	Collingwood	7	4	0	3	95.06	16
9	Adelaide	7	3	0	4	119.97	12
10	West Coast	7	3	0	4	112.56	12
11	Carlton	7	3	0	4	111.16	12
12	North Melbourne	7	3	0	4	109.46	12
13	Gold Coast	7	3	0	4	98.61	12
14	St Kilda	7	2	0	5	95.59	8
15	Brisbane	7	2	0	5	72.79	8
16	Bulldogs	7	1	0	6	71.10	4
17	Melbourne	7	1	0	6	55.03	4
18	Greater Western Sydney	7	0	0	7	57.41	0

If unsuccessful, Kelly will be slugged a further 80 carry-over points.

“It’s a big risk for a player of James’ quality to be carrying 80-90 carry-over points into the last part of the year, so I refute the assertion that it’s without risk.’’

Meanwhile, Collingwood defender Heath Shaw has accepted his one-match ban for his hit to Docker Hayden Ballantyne’s groin.

The incident gifted the Fremantle antagonist a goal in the second quarter after he told the umpire: “He punched me in the nuts!”

Melbourne’s Colin Sylvia has accepted a three-game ban for his hit that ended in Jared Brennan being carted off on a stretcher.

Sylvia’s errant elbow collected the Gold Coast playmaker in the head.

The silky Demon was also implicated by a poor record. Recruit Chris Dawes’ disappointing Melbourne debut has been further soured after he was offered a reprimand for striking Tom Murphy.

Sylvia will miss clashes against Richmond, Fremantle (away) and Hawthorn.

Jay Schulz and Liam Picken were also offered reprimands.

Port ruckman Jarrad Redden escaped punishment for making contact to injured Tiger Shane Tuck.

The Richmond midfielder returned to the field despite suffering a fractured scapula in a blow that will sideline him for 6-8 weeks.

The match review panel declared Tuck had been fit to return by the club’s medical staff, therefore Redden’s contact was allowed.

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