EILISH Sheerin is free to play in week 10 after the AFLW Appeal Board dismissed a challenge brought by the AFL in a 45-minute hearing on Thursday night.

The League chose to appeal the AFLW Tribunal's Tuesday night decision to downgrade Sheerin's charge of intentionally making contact with an umpire to carelessly making contact with an umpire, which left her with a fine of $200.

The incident in question involved a push from Sheerin on Essendon's Georgia Nanscawen that caused the Bomber to fall into the path of an umpire, which in turn sent the umpire tumbling to the ground during Saturday night's Dreamtime match in Darwin.

The AFL appealed on the grounds the Tribunal had made two errors of law and had acted unreasonably in coming to their decision, with the Appeal Board, chaired by Will Houghton KC and comprised of former players Richard Loveridge and Wayne Henwood, dismissing all three grounds.

The League argued the Tribunal had failed to give consideration to specific elements of evidence, namely Sheerin's admission she knew where the umpire was in relation to herself, and the umpire's likely exit away from the stoppage, as well as arguing the Tribunal erred in its finding that Sherrin did not exert force when pushing away from her opponent, as that finding was not possible based on the evidence. It also argued the Tribunal had acted unreasonably in coming to the conclusion that force was not used, as the vision of the incident doesn't permit any other conclusion.

The Appeal Board chair twice interjected during the oral submission made by the AFL's counsel, Andrew Woods SC, to clarify why the League's arguments constituted errors of law rather than mere errors of fact.

Richmond's disapproval of the AFL's appeal was evident in its submission, with Richmond's counsel Jonathan Barreiro noting that "an appeal to this board has to be brought on very particular grounds and it's not an opportunity to have another crack if you're not happy with the decision [previously]".

The Appeal Board deliberated for less than 10 minutes before delivering its decision, finding it was evident in the Tribunal judgment that it had considered all the evidence put before it, that the finding of no force was open to the Tribunal to find, and that such a finding was not impossible given the evidence presented to it.

Thus, the appeal was dismissed on all three counts and the Tribunal's outcome from Tuesday night - a $200 fine - stands.

Sheerin was initially charged by the Match Review Officer with making intentional contact with an umpire, but the charge was downgraded to careless contact in a two-and-a-half-hour Tribunal hearing.

Sheerin was sent straight to the Tribunal after the initial charge, but the Tribunal, chaired by Renee Enbom KC with panellists David Neitz and Michelle Dench, was unconvinced the contact was intentional and forceful, therefore the charge was downgraded to careless.

Had Sheerin been found guilty of making intentional contact, it would have been up to the Tribunal to determine an appropriate sanction.

The incident occurred during a stoppage in the final two minutes of the match, when Sheerin, who was positioned around the ball-up, pushed her opponent Nanscawen into the path of the umpire, who was running backwards away from the contest after throwing the ball into the air. Nanscawen's head and shoulders made contact with the umpire's hip, causing the umpire to fall backwards onto the ground.