Geelong star Patrick Dangerfield free to face Hawthorn in Easter Monday blockbuster

Geelong superstar Patrick Dangerfield is free to play in the Easter Monday blockbuster against Hawthorn after copping a fine for his off-the-ball frustrations on Saturday. RECAP ALL TODAY'S FOOTY NEWS

Geelong superstar Patrick Dangerfield is free to play in the Easter Monday blockbuster against Hawthorn after copping a fine for his off-the-ball frustrations on Saturday.

One of the Brownlow Medal favourites, Dangerfield was last night hit with a $2000 fine for lashing out at tagger Matt De Boer with an elbow to his midriff behind play.

But Carlton has been dealt a blow with onballer Will Setterfield copping a two-match ban for dumping Gold Coast’s Will Powell into the turf in a dangerous tackle.

North Melbourne defender Luke McDonald could also be missing from North’s Good Friday clash against Essendon after he was dealt a one-match ban for striking Crow Chayce Jones.

McDonald was attempting to spoil when he collected Jones high in the marking contest.

Defender Sam Wright could replace McDonald ahead of a massive assignment against Bombers’ seven-goal star Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti on Friday.

Clubs have until 11am to decide whether to appeal.

Setterfield’s suspension is a disappointment for the Blues as they look to break their drought against Western Bulldogs on Sunday followed by a trip to Launceston to take on the Hawks.

Dangerfield was standing in front of the tight-checking De Boer when he used his left arm to strike De Boer’s stomach.

It was graded as intentional conduct and low impact.

Patrick Dangerfield has been offered a fine after two incidents from Geelong's clash with GWS.

But Dangerfield can count himself lucky his second arm-swing narrowly missed De Boer’s head, as the Giant buckled over in pain from the first strike.

Match review officer Michael Christian yesterday defended the tribunal process after his two most recent big verdicts on Mason Cox and Dustin Martin were successfully challenged.

Christiain said there was not enough force behind Dangerfield’s second striking motion to warrant a sanction.

“Matt De Boer had hold of Patrick and he flung back with his arm and it was minimal contact,” Christian said.

“We certainly determined that it was insufficient force to constitute a reportable offence.”

Setterfield’s rough tackle on Powell was assessed as careless conduct with high impact to the head. Powell’s head was slammed into the turf in the incident, concussing the young Sun. He didn’t return to the field.

“If you drive, sling, or rotate with excessive force into the ground, it becomes unreasonable in the circumstances,” Christian said.

“In this case it was a slinging action and added to that Will Powell was in a vulnerable position because Will Setterfield had hold of his right arm.”

Christian said the recent tribunal decisions on Cox and Martin should not undermine the public’s faith in the MRO system.

He said the match review operations did not have access to witnesses and other evidence that was available to the tribunal, leading to potentially different interpretations of incidents.

“I see it as the process working, the match review function is separate to the tribunal function,” Christian said.

“We won’t shy away from applying the guidelines as best as we can.”

Brisbane forward Eric Hipwood escaped sanction for accidentally kicking David Myers in the face in a marking contest.

Originally published as Geelong star Patrick Dangerfield free to face Hawthorn in Easter Monday blockbuster

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