Essendon to appeal Shiel's ban
Essendon will go to the tribunal to appeal the two-match ban offered to star midfielder Dylan Shiel.
The former GWS player, who has starred in the Bombers' rise up the ladder in 2020, was offered the ban for his bump on North Melbourne's Curtis Taylor on Saturday night.
Dylan Shiel during Essendon's win over the Roos. Credit:Getty Images
However, on Monday morning an MRI of Taylor's face cleared him of a facial fracture.
Match review officer Michael Christian graded Shiel’s bump as careless conduct, high contact and high impact. Taylor came from the field for an assessment but played out the rest of the match.
Essendon could reduce the ban to one week if it is downgraded to medium impact, for example. The Bombers play the Western Bulldogs on Friday.
St Kilda's Ben Long will also face the tribunal on Tuesday for his bump that left Fremantle's Sean Darcy with concussion.
Meanwhile, North Melbourne tagger Luke McDonald has apologised to Essendon's Conor McKenna for his coronavirus jibe. McDonald called McKenna to make the apology.
"I want to address the Luke McDonald and Conor McKenna incident from the weekend," Roos coach Rhyce Shaw said on Monday.
"It's not on. And not something we stand for."
The AFL indicated it would look into the incident.