Michael Johnson flew into Melbourne with an advocate at his side who has been able to get players off charges like head butting and testicle punching but he learned it's much easier to argue a case when your tie is blue and yellow.  Despite the fact that most of the contact came from Johnson's arse hitting Hansen's chest, the AFL match committee threw the book at Johnson  as they predictably looked for cases to set the tone for the season.

Johnson argued that, because of Antoni Grover's tackle on Hansen, he would not have normally hit him in the head, but the tribunal refused to back down and carried a decision that seems to have been orchestrated over a couple of beers in the board room before Christmas. Johnson will now have to sit on the sidelines for the first month of the AFL sidelines.

Considering there hadn't been any press releases promoting a crack down on face touching, Jeff Farmer was more confident of getting off his trumped up charges. He stood up in front of the tribunal and explained that he had been a bit silly in putting his hands on Pratt's head but didn't gouge his eyes and any contact he may or may not have made would have been accidental. The AFL called him a liar and, despite no video evidence proving anything but a hand near the eye, upheld the misconduct charge and threw 6 weeks at him. 6 weeks for doing something which looked a bit iffy.

The Dockers are considering whether they will appeal the decisions.
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