SHANE McAdam has been suspended for three matches after his rough conduct case for a high bump on Greater Western Sydney's Jacob Wehr was upheld at the Tribunal on Tuesday night.

After 70 minutes of evidence and 45 minutes of deliberation, the Tribunal found Adelaide's small forward guilty of careless conduct, severe impact and high contact.

RECAP Shane McAdam's Tribunal case as it happened

In handing the suspension down, chairman Jeff Gleeson said McAdam's decision to bump was unreasonable.

"A reasonably prudent player would have realised there was a considerable risk of injury to the player with the ball," Gleeson said.

"The potential for injury, and serious injury, was very high. So, we regard this as severe impact."

Adelaide's defence was spirited, centring around the high contact and severe impact gradings being wrong in their view.

The Crows counsel, which included a submission from biomechanics expert Dr Robert Crowther, said contact got no higher than Wehr's chin, and the majority of force applied was directed through the chest and shoulder.

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The other major contention was the 'severe' impact grading, which the AFL successfully argued was centred around the potential to cause injury.

AFL counsel Andrew Woods said McAdam had the option to tackle or shorten his stride, but instead planted both feet and launched himself off the ground.

"There's a clear election in my mind to bump," Woods said. "The tribunal needs to ask itself is this a breach of the duty of care McAdam owed to Wehr? I'd say it fell far below what a reasonable player would consider prudent in the circumstances."

The Tribunal ultimately agreed with this.

Adelaide argued grading something on potential was unfair, citing Patrick Dangerfield's three-game suspension for a bump on Crow Jake Kelly in 2021 as a great comparison.

In that instance Kelly was concussed, had a broken nose and was stretchered from the ground, while Wehr had no such injuries. They also used the opening round cases of Lance Franklin and Kysaiah Pickett to argue that McAdam's was less severe.

"This (McAdam's case) is severe impact because of the potential … but the reality is there was no injury at all. You can only take potential so far," they said.

McAdam will miss matches against Richmond, Port Adelaide and Fremantle.