HAWTHORN spearhead Lance Franklin faces an anxious weekend after he was reported in the Hawks' 12-point win over the Sydney Swans.
The star Hawk collected Swans defender Nick Malceski with a high bump to the head two minutes into the second term of Friday night's clash at ANZ Stadium.
The knock briefly forced Malceski from the field, but the hard-working Swan was quickly back on the ground after being looked at by the Swans medical staff.
On the eve of the finals, Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson predictably jumped to the defence of his star player after the match.
"I didn't think it was a very malicious act," Clarkson said.
"Malceski continued to play.
"We will see how it pans out."
Franklin, who kicked two goals on Friday night, has no existing good or bad record at the AFL Tribunal, as all previous offences have expired since his last penalty in early 2011.
Clarkson said the club would await the ruling from the Match Review Panel on Monday afternoon.
"We've just got to let the authorities deal with that and see what happens," Clarkson said.
"Those sorts of things happen in games of footy, and we will just see what the Match Review Panel deem it to be.
"We've won games of footy without him."
Field umpire Brett Rosebury reported Franklin for engaging in rough conduct, and AFL.com.au reporter Damian Barrett felt the Hawk forward was looking at a one-match suspension after closely assessing the incident.
"I believe it will be a two-week down to one with an early plea," Barrett said on Triple M at half time.
"It's either reckless or negligent. I would go with reckless. I don't know how you could say it's negligent, as Malceski had disposed of the football.
"I'm going to say low impact and it has to be high contact.
"That gets to a level two offence, early plea gets it down to one match.
"He had a choice not to do it."
Hawk forward Jarryd Roughead, who finished the night with four goals, said the side had coped well with Franklin's absence in the past.
"We've played games without him this year and done pretty well," Roughead said.
"We will wait and see what happens.
"I'm pretty sure it will be a massive thing this week."
