Hawthorn’s Mabior Chol is free to play in round one, 2026 after the AFL tribunal overturned his three-match ban for rough conduct against Geelong’s Tom Stewart.

The incident happened late in the first quarter of Geelong’s prelim final win over Hawthorn at the MCG.

Stewart took hold of the ball in defensive 50 and tried to run clear, but he was grabbed around the legs by Hawthorn’s Sam Butler, and then tackled from behind by Chol, who pinned Stewart’s arms as both men fell forward to the ground.

Stewart hit his head on the ground and subsequently failed a HIA test.

This ruled him out for the rest of the match, and ensured that he would not be out of concussion protocols in time to to play in the grand final.

Chol was handed a three-match ban by the match review officer.

Hawthorn challenged the result, leading to Tuesday evening’s hearing.

Counsel Albert Dinelli KC said the AFL’s position was that Chol acted unreasonably and failed his duty of care to Stewart.

Although the incident took place extremely quickly, Dinelli said that Chol’s choice of tackling from behind had increased Stewart’s momentum and had either driven him into the ground or increased the force with which the Cats defender hit the ground.

He added that Chol had pinned both arms, meaning that Stewart was unable to do anything to protect himself, and that the Hawks forward had not rolled off Stewart until after the impact, by which time “the damage was done”.

Counsel representing Hawthorn, Myles Tehan, described the incident as an unfortunate “football accident” and said that Chol did not accept that he had acted with careless conduct.

Tehan said that Chol was very sorry for the outcome that saw Stewart concussed and missing this weekend’s grand final, but that circumstances and factors outside his control had led to the result.

Tehan said that the initial tackle by Butler was obscured from Chol’s view, so that his expectation that he would be tackling an upright player did not happen.

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Chol’s counsel added that a tangle of legs involving Butler, Stewart and Chol left the Hawks forward unable to keep his feet, resulting in the falling forward.

He argued that Chol did try to roll off Stewart, and that he did not use excessive force.

Tribunal chair Jeff Gleeson KC agreed. When the tribunal panel came back with their verdict, they overturned the three-match ban.

Gleeson cited the tangle of legs and the speed of the incident making it impossible for Chol to avoid falling on Stewart.

However he said there was evidence that the Hawks player had made an attempt to roll off and that Stewart’s ability to handball clear before he hit the ground showed the Cats player was not completely unable to respond to the tackle.

Gleeson said the panel was not satisfied that Chol had acted unreasonably.