Essendon's Mark Baguley accused St Kilda youngster Jack Lonie of staging during an AFL tribunal hearing that ended with the Bombers' defender escaping with a fine.
Former AFL football operations boss Adrian Anderson, the architect of the modern tribunal system, represented Baguley in a hearing that began just minutes after inspirational Bombers skipper Jobe Watson was ruled out for the rest of the year with a shoulder injury.
The 28-year-old was charged with striking Lonie in the second quarter of Essendon's disastrous 110-point loss to the Saints at Etihad Stadium, and risked a two-match ban if he failed at the tribunal.
Baguley accused Lonie of "faking it" in written submissions to the tribunal after he fell to the ground following the incident that was assessed by the AFL match review panel to be intentional with low impact and high contact.
The defender contended that his round-arm fend never went higher than Lonie's collarbone and pleaded guilty to the lesser classification of body contact, with the jury agreeing with his version of events.
"It's a great result - I stood by my evidence and I think that common sense prevailed," Baguley said.
"I'm looking forward to playing this weekend.
"I was surprised that I got the initial sanction of two weeks down to one with an early plea, so I was glad that the club wanted to challenge it and we got the right outcome.
"I don't think it was risky (to go to the tribunal). I don't believe I made contact to his neck or head, so I stood by my evidence."
The Bombers had requested Lonie be present at the hearing so his testimony could be heard face to face, but the young Saint gave evidence via phone link, due to media commitments associated with his Rising Star nomination.
He contended that Baguley had struck him around his collarbone and that blow had carried on to make contact with the front, left side of his neck.
After an 80-minute hearing, that included inconclusive video evidence, the jury of Shane Wakelin, Daniel Harford and Wayne Henwood took just over half an hour to accept Baguley's guilty plea to the lesser classification, which attracted a $1000 fine that was bumped up to $1500 as it was his second offence.
Anderson, who was appearing as a player advocate for the first time, left the league after nine years at the end of the 2012 season and was responsible for a significant overhaul of the AFL's tribunal system.
Baguley's case was the only one heard by the tribunal on Tuesday night, with 11 players accepting fines for incidents arising from round-14 action, while Richmond's Ivan Maric accepted a one-match suspension for striking Greater Western Sydney's Jack Steele.
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