Melbourne Demons forward Kysaiah Pickett will miss the first three games of the 2025 AFL season after failing to overturn a three-match suspension for a bump on Collingwood's Darcy Moore.
In a marathon hearing on Tuesday, Pickett and Melbourne's lawyer Adrian Anderson were unable to convince the Tribunal to overturn his rough conduct charge.
The challenge during the Demons' 46-point defeat on Friday night, which forced the Magpies captain from the field with concussion, was judged to be careless conduct, severe impact and high contact by the match review officer.
After hearing more than two hours' worth of arguments, the Tribunal deliberated for another 50 minutes before delivering their verdict.
"We are required to consider whether there was unreasonable conduct that was likely to cause injury," said Tribunal chair Jeff Gleeson.
"We find that there was."
With the Demons missing out on finals following their 14th-placed finish, Pickett's suspension will carry over until next year.
Pickett apologised to Moore for the injury and said he did not expect him to go to ground so quickly.
"My intention was to protect space by taking Darcy off the line and win the ball in front of me," he said.
"This is the normal way I've contested the ball and made a play on the ball in other games."
Anderson argued Pickett was not guilty because he was reasonably contesting the ball, was not likely to cause injury when he decided to bump and he couldn't have foreseen Moore dropping his knees in the challenge, which resulted in the high contact.
AFL lawyer Sally Flynn said footage showed Pickett ran past the ball and chose to bump Moore instead of attempting to regather the ball.
"It was not reasonable to elect to bump at any stage of what happened - not at the start, and certainly not after Mr Moore has himself tried to gather the ball," said Flynn.
Flynn said the conduct was clearly likely to cause injury, as evidenced by the fact Moore did suffer a concussion.
It's not the first time Pickett's bumping has got him into trouble.
Pickett missed Melbourne's first game of this season after being banned for a high bump on Patrick Cripps in last year's semi-final loss to Carlton.
He also received a one-match ban for a bump on Adelaide's Jake Soligo in Gather Round.
In the evening's second hearing, Carlton forward Matthew Owies will attempt to overturn his one-match ban for a dangerous tackle on St Kilda's Jack Higgins.
The outcome will carry more immediate implications than Pickett's, with Owies set to miss the Blues' elimination final against Brisbane at the Gabba next week.
His legal team is likely to argue there was little difference in his driving tackle on Higgins, which was classified as careless conduct, medium impact and high contact, and Western Bulldogs defender Liam Jones' challenge on Aaron Cadman, for which he escaped suspension.