LANCE Franklin would have been breathing a sigh of relief on Friday morning.
Having struck Alex Rance with an open palm to the throat the night prior, the Sydney superstar's place in the Swans' side ahead of a crucial encounter with the Cats was suddenly at the mercy of Match Review Officer Michael Christian.
But despite leaving Rance struggling for breath on the Thursday evening, it was decided by Christian that the level of impact Franklin struck the All Australian captain with was not sufficient enough to warrant a suspension.
NO SUSPENSIONS Saint escapes with fine
Instead, Franklin was charged with misconduct and only fined $1500 as a result.
Many thought the action, which was clearly intentional and caught Rance high, would have been enough to deserve a low impact grading and subsequently earn Franklin a one-match ban.
But Christian explained on Monday why the incident didn't even make it to the AFL's classifiable offence table in the first place.
"It was an open-handed strike to the upper chest and into the neck region," Christian said.
"We didn't like the action, (but) it was a question of the level of impact.
"With impact, the three things we look at are the player's reaction, the visual look of the strike and also the medical report.
"While Alex was inconvenienced momentarily, he was able to play on, he did not get any medical assistance and the medical report was clear.
"It was decided, based on that evidence, that it didn't reach the classifiable offence table and, as a consequence, he was fined on the misconduct provisions."
The AFL has the option of charging players with misconduct, should an incident not be worthy of either meeting the classifiable offence table or of being referred directly to the Tribunal.
That was the case in Franklin's circumstance, with Christian suggesting that Rance would have needed to be forced from the field or for something to show in the medical report in order for the incident to earn a low impact grading.
As neither happened, but with Christian still keen to stamp out such actions, the decision was made to charge the Swans star with misconduct, leading to a fine, as opposed to letting him walk free completely.
