The Swans have received a welcome boost, with star forward Lance Franklin escaping with a fine from the MRP for his clash with Luke Hodge in the first half against the Hawks on Friday night.
He was charged with making unreasonable or unnecessary contact to the face of Luke Hodge during the first quarter of Friday night's loss to the Hawks, and based on video evidence and the medical report from Hawthorn, the incident was assessed as careless conduct with low impact to the head.
With an early plea, Franklin can reduce the sanction from $2500 to $1500, however, he was cleared of further contact with Hodge during the first quarter, when he caught the defender late with a swinging arm.
Geelong star midfielder and reigning Brownlow medalist Patrick Dangerfield has been offered 1 week by the MRP for his pinning tackle on Blues ruckman, Matthew Kreuzer.
The midfielder pinned the arms of the ruckman in a tackle, with the momentum slamming him into the ground and knocking Kreuzer out.
While Dangerfield defended the tackle as fair, the medical report and the fact that Kreuzer didn't return to field having being concussed, worked against him.
“I haven’t been cited for anything. In my opinion I was just tackling I felt it was a fair tackle,” he said.
“I rolled the tackle so I wouldn’t give away a free kick for in the back. I thought that he still had the ball and that is why I turned around and put my hands in the air.
“There was no umpire’s call at the time. So I don’t see an issue with it but it is not up to me.
The Swans have an injury crises on their hands this week, with Kennedy, Rohan, Lloyd, Naismith, Mills and Sinclair all struck down before, or during the Hawk's loss on Friday night.
Rohan and Lloyd were late withdrawals before the start of the match, while Kennedy appeared to strain a hamstring in the opening half.
Mills and Naismith suffered injuries in the first half, while Callum Sinclair appeared to roll his ankle early in the last quarter.
After weeks of injury-free football, the Swans have several big decisions this week ahead of the do-or-die Cats clash.
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