Ballantyne set for another week off

Serial offender Hayden Ballantyne is set to miss one match for striking GWS defender Tomas Bugg.

Fremantle AFL forward Hayden Ballantyne

Fremantle forward Hayden Ballantyne is facing a one-match AFL ban for striking. (AAP)

Hayden Ballantyne has been hit with a hangover from his 100th game, offered a week's suspension by the AFL match review panel for striking.

Ballantyne's off-the-ball hit on Giants defender Tomas Bugg was as unnecessary as it was crude, the young defender slumping to the ground after being struck in the chest.

It's the latest indiscretion in a long line of reportable incidents for the small forward, and follows a one-match ban for striking Sydney's Rhyce Shaw in round five.

Ballantyne has been suspended five times in his 100 games.

That poor record is the reason he cannot reduce his punishment to a reprimand with an early guilty plea.

Unless he can successfully challenge the ban at the tribunal, Ballantyne will miss Fremantle's trip east to play St Kilda - giving him a 17-day break with the benefit of the split round.

Missing the match against the cellar-dwelling Saints would not normally worry the Fremantle coaching staff but Ross Lyon may loath risking Ballantyne's hot streak.

Ballantyne has kicked 22 goals in his last five games - a record that would comfortably win him the Coleman if stretched over a full season.

He kicked five goals against GWS Giants, including one in every term, as the Dockers eased past the expansion side on Sunday.

Gold Coast's Tom Murphy is also set to miss one week for a kneeing charge laid in the Suns' loss to Western Bulldogs.

The former Hawthorn defender will miss the Q-Clash with Brisbane without a successful visit to the AFL tribunal.

Richmond captain Trent Cotchin was also slugged $900 for making negligent contact with an umpire.


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