Western Bulldogs defender Liam Jones has dodged a heartbreaking potential ban for a dangerous tackle on Greater Western Sydney's Josh Cadman in Sunday's eight-shaping clash and is free to play in his club's elimination final with Hawthorn.

Just seconds into the game at Ballarat's Mars Stadium on Sunday, Jones' availability for a fortnight's time looked in doubt after pinning Cadman's arm and forcing the Giants forward into the turf ending with head-to-ground contact.

The tackle was graded careless conduct, high contact with a low impact judgement, seemingly helping him avoid a ban.

The Bulldogs went on to seal sixth spot with a 37-point win over the top four finishers.

Liam Jones gave away a free kick for this incident involving Aaron Cadman.#AFLDogsGiants pic.twitter.com/nDeYArxCCI

— AFL (@AFL) August 25, 2024

A comparable incident on Sunday - Carlton's Matt Owies' tackle on St Kilda's Jack Higgins, resulted in a heavier sanction.

Owies is facing exclusion from Carlton's do-or-die preliminary final rematch with Brisbane in the first week of finals after his incident was graded medium impact.

Speaking post-match on Sunday, Dogs coach Luke Beveridge said he hadn't seen the tackle at that time.

"So I'm not sure how it measures up to the other tackles that are similar," he said.

Jones looks set to play in his first ever final and 200th senior game in his 14-season career.

Teammate Arthur Jones could be in line to hold his spot after returning to the senior side for the first time in the final round of the home-and-away season.

Jones, who played 13 games in his debut year across 2023, had earned re-selection after strong showings of late for Footscray in the VFL, Beveridge said on Sunday.

"He's an example of a player who maybe came into the year expecting to play more senior games. But what we're after from him has looked better over the last month in his roles at state league level and he was ready to be called upon," the coach said.

"And I thought he was pretty important with his pressure. (He) put his body on the line and it was good to see him hit the school board for us when it was important in that last quarter.

"Late in the year, when one or two boys are coming on and they look a bit fresher, that could be important."

At the tribunal on Tuesday night, Melbourne will challenge a three-game ban handed to livewire forward Kysaiah Pickett for a high-bump on Collingwood captain Darcy Moore in the two club's final showings for 2024, ruling him out for the opening rounds of next season.

The incident was deemed careless conduct, high contact and severe impact.

Pickett has been on the end of four bans in his previous 50 games, with Moore later subbed out with concussion.