ESSENDON defender Courtenay Dempsey has been suspended for four matches for his driving tackle on Brett Deledio, despite pleas a large sanction could impact his ability to earn a contract at a new club. 

Dempsey, who remains uncontracted and an unrestricted free agent, could have played his last game for the Bombers after failing to have the impact of his tackle downgraded from severe.

Tribunal recap: Dempsey case as it happened

The incident, which resulted in a direct referral to the Tribunal on Monday, was described by long-time Tribunal prosecutor Jeff Gleeson QC as the most dangerous tackle he had seen.

As a result, Dempsey became the first player to be found guilty of a 'severe' offence since Richmond forward Ty Vickery struck West Coast ruckman  Dean Cox in 2014.

"There's no incident of which I'm aware of a player being driven head-first into the ground with such force," Gleeson told the Tribunal in prosecuting his case against the Bomber.  

"They don't have such a pronounced risk of spinal injury as this one."

The Tribunal heard evidence from former Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy, AFL indigenous advisor Jason Mifsud, Richmond doctor Greg Hickey and umpire Ben Ryan on Tuesday night.

Dempsey was represented by former AFL football operations manager Adrian Anderson, who argued there were exceptional and compelling circumstances in the 28-year-old's case, given he was fighting to continue his AFL career.   

"The likelihood of him being drafted and given another opportunity with a suspension hanging over his head is significantly reduced," Anderson argued. 

"He deserves the opportunity to not have this incident stop him from having another opportunity to play football.

"He doesn’t have a media career lined up. This is what he does, he's a footballer."

Essendon football manager Rob Kerr said the suspension would have no impact on the club's decision to recontract Dempsey, despite him being unavailable for the first three matches of 2016. 

"I think it's really important to recognise Courtenay expressed remorse right at the start of the incident and has been remorseful right the way through," Kerr said.

"The Tribunal has made their determination, it's probably sent a message to the player group, and we accept that.

"This will have next to no impact on [list discussions]. Courtenay is a fairly talented footballer and we'll address that when the time comes."

Dempsey's advocate Anderson also argued on Tuesday night that the Tribunal should consider the vile racial abuse that was directed at the defender via social media after the tackle.  

"Courtenay has been subjected to an awful racist attack as a direct result of this incident and he has suffered greatly because of it," Anderson said.  

His argument was quickly countered by Gleeson, who said allowing the Tribunal to alter its penalty because of social media abuse would open a can of worms. 

He said such a move "empowers racist cowards and gives them a relevance they otherwise wouldn't have".

"Difficult though it is because of the immediate consequences of this incident, the better way to address it is to leave those other (legal and support) processes to deal with it," Gleeson said.  

Dempsey did not give evidence on Tuesday night, but Mifsud gave an insight into the suffering already caused by the social media attacks, which were read out to the Tribunal.

Deledio, who left the ground and was briefly unconscious after the tackle, is expected to face North Melbourne on Friday night after training and passing a concussion test on Tuesday.

Richmond's Dr Hickey told the Tribunal he would be monitored for the rest of the week.