Melbourne star Kysaiah Pickett will miss the opening three matches of the 2025 season after the AFL tribunal upheld his three-match ban on Tuesday night.
The Noongar, Yamatji and Ngarrandjerri man was charged with rough conduct after a bump that sent Collingwood captain Darcy Moore from the field with concussion during the Demons' 46-point loss at the MCG on Friday night.
The AFL Match Review Panel deemed Pickett's bump to be of careless conduct, severe impact and high contact, with the club failing to challenge that grading at last night's hearing.
Tribunal chair Jeff Gleeson believed that Pickett's contact to Moore was 'unreasonable' as a guilty verdict was handed after a massive three-hour tribunal session.
"We are required to consider whether there was unreasonable conduct that was likely to cause injury – we find that there was," Gleeson said.
Melbourne's General Manager of AFL Football Performance, Alan Richardson was disappointed with the outcome stating that the Collingwood defender's movement influenced the outcome.
"As highlighted to the tribunal, we believe that in the moment Kozzy chose to bump, intending to make shoulder-on-shoulder contact, Darcy lowered to the ground," Richardson said.
"This resulted in the high contact (and) we also argued that there was insufficient time for Kozzy to make any adjustments to his action, as a result of Darcy's movement.
"We felt the outcome of Kozzy's action against Darcy Moore was unlikely to cause injury and could not be foreseen.
"We will assess our options from here – we fully understand the importance of protecting the head and reinforce that player safety is paramount."
Pickett has a history of finding himself in strife due to his aggressive attack on the player and the football.
The 23-year-old was banned for a high bump on Carlton skipper Patrick Cripps during last year's semi-final loss and also received a one-match suspension for a bump on Adelaide midfielder Jake Soligo earlier this season.
The silky-skilled forward apologised to Moore but said that he did not expect him to go to ground in the manner that he did.
"My intention was to protect space by taking Darcy off the line and win the ball in front of me," he said.
"This is the normal way I've contested the ball and made a play on the ball in other games."
Pickett finished last Friday's match with 15 disposals, five inside-50s and two goals.
He has had a strong season for the 14th-placed Demons having kicked 36 goals from 21 matches.
