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THE AFL Barwon tribunal has come down hard on Newtown & Chilwell’s Daniel Goodwin, rubbing the Eagles veteran out for three matches.
Goodwin pleaded guilty to striking St Joseph’s Tim Arnel during a tense final quarter at Drew Reserve on Saturday.
The tribunal was shown vision of Goodwin striking Arnel to the side of the head with a left, swinging forearm immediately after the Joeys player had taken the mark.
The footage then showed Goodwin, 28, putting his arms up to remorsefully acknowledge he made inappropriate contact.
He was then pushed to the ground and a scuffle involving several players followed.
Newtown & Chilwell advocate Peter Landers urged the tribunal to consider Goodwin’s guilty plea and immediate remorse.
“It wasn’t a fist, it was a forearm,” Landers said.
“You can see the St Joseph’s player brings the ball down (after taking the mark) just before contact. You can see Daniel has come through to try and knock the ball. The timing wasn’t good.
“The intent was not to hit the St Joseph’s player, it was to hit the ball.”
Arnel told the three-member tribunal, chaired by Dennis Gilmore, he suffered no injury.
“I would say it was careless, but certainly not intentional and not reckless,” Landers said.
“You can see after the incident Daniel was pretty upset.
“He was given a yellow card, so he has already received a penalty for the incident.
“The remonstration that happened after — it was about five minutes to go and it was four points in it, there were fairly high emotions. It was a high contact, physical game.”
Goodwin had previously been suspended for two matches for striking over an incident in the 2011 elimination final against Colac.
He will miss important matches against Leopold, Bell Park and Colac.
Meanwhile, Joeys’ Joe Macula and Colac’s Levi Dare both accepted set one-match penalties.