DANIEL Howe's season could be over, with the Hawthorn tagger suspended for two weeks for striking Patrick Cripps and sent straight to the AFL Tribunal for a trip on Zac Fisher.

His trip, which broke Fisher's leg, was deemed as severe impact by Match Review Officer Michael Christian. It saw the action exceed the AFL's classifiable offence table and meant it would be referred directly to the Tribunal on Tuesday night.

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If he's found guilty of careless conduct, with severe impact to the body of Fisher at the Tribunal, it would mean a minimum three-game ban. That would be on top of the two-match suspension he received for striking Cripps, which could total a five-match suspension.

In potentially being suspended for tripping, Howe could become the first player in more than four years to be rubbed out for the action – with Hawthorn skipper Jarryd Roughead the last to be banned for such an incident back in 2014.

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There have been 17 players fined for tripping since Roughead was last suspended.

"We thought the action with Howe was an instinctive action, so not intentional, but certainly careless," Christian said.

"There was a swinging motion that obviously had some impact on Fisher. So that was the initial decision about a careless conduct grading.

"Clearly Carlton releasing news today that Fisher had broken his leg … in that particular case, it fit into the severe category for an impact grading."

Howe was also suspended for two matches for striking Cripps in an ugly incident that occurred earlier in the first quarter.

He struck Cripps in the jaw in an off-the-ball confrontation just minutes into the clash at Etihad Stadium, flooring the Blues star just prior to a stoppage taking place.

The incident was graded by Christian as intentional conduct, with medium impact to the head, which saw Howe offered a two-match ban.

"Ordinarily it would have been a low impact (grading)," Christian said.

"But as a consequence of a potential to cause a more serious injury, we've upgraded it to medium impact.

"It's obviously something that we don't want to see in the game. It's largely been removed from the game, but when it does happen we really need to be strong around it and make sure an appropriate penalty is handed down."

Hawthorn – which is currently inside the top eight on percentage – plays Fremantle, Essendon, Geelong, St Kilda and Sydney to finish the year.