Geelong star Tom Stewart has avoided AFL suspension over his awkward collision with Ollie Wines, while North Melbourne forward Paul Curtis faces another ban.
Stewart jumped off the ground in an attempt to smother Port Adelaide midfielder Wines's handpass in the Cats' 88-point win at GMHBA Stadium, and landed on his opponent.
Sunday's incident evoked memories of the infamous Brayden Maynard-Angus Brayshaw collision in 2023 that led to a change in AFL rules.
The onus was put on players to have a greater duty of care and "take all reasonable steps" to avoid high contact when attempting smothering actions.
Stewart's action was graded as careless conduct, low impact and high contact, resulting in a $2000 fine for rough conduct if the star utility offers an early guilty plea.
It means Stewart is available for the high-flying Cats' clash with lowly Essendon at GMHBA Stadium on Friday night.
Wines was clearly sore immediately after the incident, but completed a halftime television interview minutes later and played out the match as one of the Power's best afield.
Port coach Ken Hinkley believed Stewart did not intend to hurt Wines, while Geelong coach Chris Scott felt his player had done all he could to prevent further damage from a football act.
"You're not like a magic bullet where you can change your trajectory in the air but you do have to mitigate the damage to the other player if you can," Scott said post-match.
"I thought he just fell on top of him, so yeah, I'm very confident that he'd be OK."
North Melbourne's Curtis faces a one-match suspension over his left-handed strike to the throat of St Kilda's Angus Hastie.
The 22-year-old was charged with striking over an incident that was assessed as intentional conduct, low impact and high contact.
He will miss the Kangaroos' clash with GWS in Canberra on Sunday.
Curtis' latest suspension comes after he was charged with rough conduct and given a three-match ban in April for a dangerous tackle on Port Adelaide's Josh Sinn.
North forward Cam Zurhaar was cleared of wrongdoing over a contest with St Kilda ruckman Rowan Marshall.
Zurhaar jumped off the ground and turned his body to bump as Marshall took possession of the ball.
"It was the view of the MRO that Zurhaar makes negligible high contact (if any) with Marshall in the contest," the AFL said in a statement.
"No further action was taken."
