RICHMOND defender David Gourdis has been suspended for five matches by the VFL tribunal after making contact with a field umpire during a moment of madness last week against Geelong.

He will be available for Coburg's round 22 clash, the last game of the home and away season.

Gourdis lost his temper during Coburg's clash with the Cats at Skilled Stadium, playing at full-back on Geelong forward Cameron Mooney.

After he was penalised during a marking contest, Gourdis makes an obscene finger gesture and gives away a 50-metre penalty. He makes contact with the umpire when he stands the mark.

VFL communication officer Anthony Stanguts said the contact was not forceful but Gourdis pushed the field umpire away when he was shown the mark.

"There is no doubt he made contact with the umpire... there was no real force or anything like that but any contact with an umpire is frowned upon," Stanguts said.

The tribunal reviewed video footage of the incident on Tuesday night and the five-game ban was for the umpire contact. He was also reprimanded for the finger gesture.

richmondfc.com.au reported that the club's football operations manager Ross Mongahan and psychologist Kim Stephens attended the tribunal sitting.

"Once David viewed the footage he realised the seriousness of the charge, and that he'd done the wrong thing, so he pleaded guilty," Monaghan said.

"The tribunal took everything into account, but still considered the charges serious enough to suspend David for a significant amount of time."

Gourdis has played one game for Richmond this season and four career games. Richmond did not appeal the suspension.