ST KILDA defender Nathan Brown will miss the remainder of the year after he was suspended for three games for his bump that concussed Essendon speedster Adam Saad.

The suspension means he will also miss the start of the Saints' 2019 season.

Brown had pleaded not guilty to intentionally engaging in rough conduct with Saad in an effort to reduce the grading to careless and thus earn only a two-match suspension.

However, the Tribunal deliberated for just nine minutes before upholding Match Review Officer Michael Christian's grading, before handing Brown a three-match ban that will end his campaign.

"I wholeheartedly accept the findings of the Tribunal tonight and thank them for their time," Brown said afterwards.

"Again, I apologise to Adam and his family. Hopefully he can take the field for Essendon this week."

In pleading not guilty, Brown said his Saints teammates were making "little to no ground" on Saad and that he believed he had to "somehow slow Adam" so he didn't regain the ball.

"My sole intent was to stop Adam from following up the ball," he said at the witness stand.

That evidence was supported by the officiating umpire, Jacob Mollison, who said it was his belief that Saad could "absolutely" still influence the play before being bumped by Brown.

But the AFL's legal counsel Jeff Gleeson QC told the Tribunal that the ball was "considerably" more than 5m away at the time of impact, also arguing that Brown had a clear view of Saad and could have avoided contact altogether had he tried to do so.

The Tribunal wasted little time in finding Brown guilty of intentionally engaging in rough conduct, taking a further two minutes to hand down a three-match suspension.

Prior to the hearing, there had also been conjecture as to whether Brown made contact with Saad's head. That was immediately dismissed as a result of Essendon's medical report.

That revealed Saad had been treated for a concussion as a result of a knock to the head, also saying the defender had complained of a sore jaw in the aftermath of the bump.

St Kilda faces Hawthorn and North Melbourne to conclude its 2018 season.