A TRIBUNAL member who was on the case for the controversial verdict that saw Richmond backman Bachar Houli handed a two-match ban could again sit on a potential hearing for Melbourne's Tom Bugg.
Wayne Henwood will likely be on the Tribunal if it sits, as expected, on Tuesday. However, the fellow members who made the original Houli decision, David Neitz and Hamish McIntosh, will probably not.
Bugg hit on Mills a 'dog act', says Swan
AFL football operations manager Simon Lethlean told ABC radio on Saturday morning there are seven Tribunal members to select from and availability was a key factor in determining who heard a case in a particular week.
"We certainly try and rotate it and I think we've got one of the members, potentially Wayne Henwood, that will be on the Tribunal again," Lethlean said.
"He's very experienced and has a legal background.
"The other two from the week just gone probably won't be involved this week."
The Match Review Panel graded Houli's strike on Carlton's Jed Lamb intentional conduct, high impact and high contact.
Lamb was concussed and unavailable to play this weekend and the AFL called for Houli to be suspended for four games at the Tribunal.
The incident was graded the same way as the MRP but the Tribunal, not having to follow MRP guidelines, opted for a reduced penalty, citing Houli's exemplary character after his defence presented character references from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Gold Logie winner Waleed Aly.
It led Lethlean to initiate a historic first-ever appeal by the AFL on the grounds the sanction was "manifestly inadequate". Justification came when Houli's ban was doubled to four games.
Bugg concussed young Sydney star Callum Mills after a strike with his left arm in the opening minutes of Melbourne's 35-point loss to the Swans on Friday night at the MCG.
Meanwhile, Lethlean has not yet considered having an MRP meeting on Saturday mornings to make quicker judgements for teams that play on Thursday or Friday.
"In the end, selection's not required for teams until Wednesdays and Thursdays," Lethlean said.
"We've got lots of stuff to organise at our end in order to let the process properly unfold, including collating all the appropriate match vision, awaiting medical reports from doctors of the players involved, which can't be done immediately and require 24 hours to assess concussion-related issues.
"So to hurry the process through for issues of media commentary and exposure for the players involved is not altogether possible and I think sitting down on a Monday with the MRP to look at all the incidents from the weekend and assess those consistently is the primary objective for us."
