TAIT Mackrill's one-match suspension stands, after the Greater Western Sydney forward failed in her bid to overturn her ban at the AFL Tribunal.

Mackrill had been charged with rough conduct in a bump against Fremantle's Dana East, with the unsuccessful challenge the first test of the AFL's stricter high contact guidelines.

Graded as careless conduct, medium impact and high contact by the MRO, the Giants' counsel Adrian Anderson argued the incident should be seen as low impact and medium contact to the shoulder, rather than the head.

A free kick was not paid in the moment, and East played out the game unaffected.

East did not need medical treatment after the incident.

The case marked the first time the new AFL Tribunal guidelines were used, with chair Renee Enbom QC – the first woman to chair an AFL/W Tribunal – joining jury members David Neitz and Stephen Jurica in their deliberations.

Mackrill spoke at the hearing, saying she had initially thought to gather the ball, then tackle East, and then when the Docker chose to tap the ball away, to instead bump, turning her shoulder to protect herself.

She believed it to be shoulder-to-shoulder contact, and Anderson argued her foot had not left the ground when contact was first made, and that if contact had been made to the head or neck, East would have been thrown backwards, rather than passing Mackrill's shoulder.

Anderson also put forward an example provided to the clubs by the AFL as a high bump graded low impact, that of Hannah Scott on Chloe Molloy in 2021.

AFL counsel Nick Pane emphasised the need to consider potential to cause injury, as laid out in December's AFL/W Tribunal amendments, and that the evidence of Mackrill provided little weight as she said it was based on what she felt, rather than saw.

Pane also pointed out Mackrill had run past the ball when the incident occurred.

There was discussion over the contents of the new guidelines, which had been communicated to clubs via email in December, with GWS claiming the actual guidelines mistakenly said "front-on contact", rather than "high contact".

This was rectified in updated guidelines sent to clubs on Friday before the game, with Anderson's argument of "exceptional circumstances" in reducing the penalty from one match to a fine dismissed.

Gold Coast's Ellie Hampson and West Coast's Emma Swanson have both accepted their one-week bans for dangerous tackles.

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