West Coast Eagles defender Patrick McGinnity will be suspended from this week’s match against Essendon after an investigation from Sunday’s game against Melbourne deemed he had breached the AFL’s respect and responsibility policy.

McGinnity has been suspended by the club for one match, will undergo counselling in relation to the AFL’s respect and responsibility policies and will be fined $2500. He will also issue an apology to the Melbourne player involved in the incident.

“I deeply regret the words I used in a verbal altercation on Sunday,” McGinnity said. “The heat of the moment is no excuse for over-stepping the mark and I sincerely apologise to the Melbourne player who my comments were directed at.” 

Immediately the club became aware of the incident, it acted as quickly as possible with the Melbourne Football Club to resolve the matter.

The behaviour of Patrick McGinnity, in this instance, does not reflect the values of the club and chief executive officer Trevor Nisbett said he was pleased that McGinnity had apologised immediately.

“The comments made by Patrick do not reflect the values of our football club and we acted quickly when we became aware of the issue,” Nisbett said.

“We have high standards as a club, which we have continued to enforce in recent years and we are disappointed Patrick stepped outside those guidelines. We will continue to educate our players on their responsibilities around this and other AFL policies.”