WESTERN Bulldogs captain Katie Brennan will need to take her case to the AFL Appeals Board if she is to play in Saturday's NAB AFL Women's Grand Final after her suspension was upheld by the Tribunal on Tuesday night.
Brennan's bid to overturn a rough conduct charge for a dangerous tackle on Melbourne's Harriet Cordner was dismissed by the panel on the basis that she had driven her opponent into the ground with excessive force.
The Bulldogs could choose to challenge again at a specially convened Appeals Board hearing on Thursday night, or accept a two-match sanction that will rule her out of the AFLW decider against the Brisbane Lions.
After the guilty verdict was handed down, Brennan's legal counsel made a bid to have the penalty reduced to a reprimand because the circumstances of playing in a Grand Final were exceptional and compelling.
Legal counsel Sam Norton argued it was an especially cruel blow for the Bulldogs to be without Brennan in Saturday's decider after then captain Bob Murphy missed the 2016 premiership because of injury.
The jury was granted leave to consider that submission and took 21 minutes to uphold the penalty.
"I'm obviously gutted with the decision, but I will support the club in whatever they choose to do going forward," a visibly upset Brennan said as she left the Tribunal at AFL House on Tuesday night.
"I'll be able to play my role on game day. We've proved the girls don't need me out on the field to win games and I'll back them 100 per cent."
Katie Brennan speaks after her Tribunal challenge. Picture: Michael Willson, AFL Photos
Bulldogs football director Chris Grant would not declare if the club would challenge the verdict.
Brennan's manager and GWS player Alex Saundry and Bulldogs general manager of women's football Debbie Lee attended and were also visibly upset when the decision was handed down.
To appeal on Thursday night, the Bulldogs would need to mount a case that the decision was so unreasonable that no Tribunal acting reasonably could have come to that decision having regard to the evidence before it.
Brennan argued she had executed a legal tackle in line with the training she had completed with development coach Andrew Shakespeare since being handed a reprimand in round one.
"(I've been) working on the technique of the tackle and making sure I was learning from the last one," she told the Tribunal.
"We work on getting in tight with the body, body contact, wrapping our arms around, dropping at the knees and making sure we're protecting the player and not falling into the back of the player."
Norton, who abandoned plans to call Shakespeare as a witness and did not challenge the low impact grading, said Brennan's tackle was not a sling or multi-action tackle and had not been delivered with excessive force.
"Under no circumstances should she miss a Grand Final for this," Norton declared in closing his case.
The jury of Jason Johnson, Richard Loveridge and Sharelle McMahon disagreed, however, upholding the charge set by match review officer Michael Christian and adding an extra week because of Brennan's unsuccessful appeal.
