Melbourne legend Garry Lyon says he has “no sympathy” for Lachie Neale, declaring the decorated Lions star “deserves a week for stupidity” for his off-ball strike on Hawk Jack Ginnivan.

But Lyon says he wouldn’t have a big issue if Brisbane cites a key clause at Tuesday night’s tribunal hearing in a bid to free Neale for the Grand Final.

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Lyon and AFL 360 co-host Gerard Whateley clashed on Monday night when discussing the ban handed to Neale for his off-ball gut punch to Ginnivan during Brisbane’s thrilling preliminary final win over Hawthorn on Saturday.

It’s a ban that left triple premiership Lion Jonathan Brown fuming, suggesting the punishment didn’t fit Neale’s action.

The AFL Match Review Officer graded Neale’s strike as intentional conduct, medium impact and body contact, equating to a one-match suspension. That consequently ruled Neale out of Saturday’s Grand Final against Fremantle.

Neale became the latest player to fall foul of the AFL’s gut-punch crackdown this year, with nine players now suspended for the act.

“There’s not one ounce of sympathy for Lachie Neale whatsoever if he’s sitting in a grandstand on Saturday afternoon,” Lyon declared on Fox Footy’s AFL 360 on Monday night.

The MRO handed Lachie Neale a one-match ban.Source: FOX SPORTS

“There’s no sympathy to be handed out to a man who decides off the ball: ‘I’m going to punch someone in the gut.’ It is ridiculous. We called this out, Greg Swann came in and mandated it.

“The only thing I’ll say is that occasionally they’ve been a bit inconsistent to say whether it’s a week or not.

“No sympathy in the wide world from me for that. There is no excuse.”

But Whateley declared it a “weak case”, considering the only vision of the incident is from a grainy behind-the-goals camera.

“Show me where he punches Ginnivan? Show me the closed fist and show me where it lands?” Whateley asked of Lyon on AFL 360.

“The legal minds should just punch holes straight through this tomorrow – because this is the only evidence there is, this vision (from behind the goals).

“And then Lachie runs on and he makes the universal ‘oh get up, you flopped’ – and Ginnivan gets straight up once he realises he hasn’t milked a free kick.”

But Lyon said Neale had to be punished by the MRO.

“(The hit) is off the ball?! You’re excusing that behaviour to run from behind and swing your arm into the guts? You do that, you throw yourself at the mercy (of the MRO and tribunal),” Lyon said.

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“If you’re sitting in the grandstand, no one to blame but yourself.

“He deserves a week for stupidity.”

Whateley replied: “That is nowhere near definitive vision. That does not support a suspension. The best you could get from that would be a fine.

“The evidence still has to be there to support the charge – and it’s not there.”

Lyon, however, said a potential Ginnivan testimony could be key.

“If Jack Ginnivan gets up and says ‘that got me right in the guts and knocked the wind out of me and I was struggling for three minutes’, he (Neale) is in trouble,” he said.

The Lions, however, are widely expected to refer to ‘compelling and exceptional circumstances’ in the AFL’s laws, which may arise where a player has an exemplary record – and it could help Neale escape the one-week ban after never copping a previous suspension.

Collingwood used the clause in March to help club champion Scott Pendlebury get off his one-week ban for rough conduct against Adelaide’s Josh Worrell downgraded to a $3000 fine. Pendlebury had never previously been suspended in his 21-year AFL career.

Whateley said it was not simply a ‘good bloke rule’.

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“There’s been a fundamental misunderstanding around what is ‘exceptional and compelling circumstances’,” Whateley said.

“I’ve seen this talked about as a ‘loophole’, as a ‘good guy discount’ – it’s no such thing. This is a clause within the game that is both necessary and prudent.”

Whateley also pointed to the case of Geelong legend and dual Brownlow Medallist Gary Ablett, who was handed a one-game ban for striking Essendon’s Dylan Shiel in his then-328th game. The Cats went to the tribunal and pointed to the compelling and exceptional circumstances clause, with Ablett’s sanction downgraded to a fine after a brief deliberation from tribunal members.

Neale, also a dual Brownlow Medallist, played his 320th AFL game on Saturday.

“This is a provision for decorated champions of the game and it is absolutely to be availed to Lachie Neale (on Tuesday night),” Whateley said.

Lyon replied: “I’ve got no sympathy for Lachie Neale and I’ve got no problem if he gets off on that basis.”

Speaking on Fox Footy’s On The Couch on Monday night, Brown said Neale’s ban doesn’t pass the pub test.

“He shouldn’t get suspended for that, certainly (not for) a Grand Final,” Brown told On the Couch.

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“These things that are inconsequential in terms of impact to your opponent and the physical harm – the head rubs, what Ginnivan does here (a jumper punch) to Hipwood … suspend them all, mate. This is ridiculous.

“I’m not promoting provocation, but if you’re going to try and get rid of all these things, put the head rub there and put the Ginnivan one all in the same (basket) and suspend them all.”

Brown lamented why the AFL industry was “in a rush to suspend our players – our greatest commodity”.

“Why can’t you just lift the fines? The fines are ridiculous in our game – $1500 fines and how many blokes have we got on over $1 million a year? Put a huge fine in place,” Brown said.

“This is always the problem. When you think of these incidents, you’ve got to look ahead and go: ‘if a player got suspended for a Grand Final, do we really want this in our game?’

“Obviously people are going to say ‘you’re a Brisbane supporter’, but I spoke about this two years ago with Isaac Heeney, it is absolutely ridiculous in our game that it’s become a sport to want to suspend our players.

“These things happen in the heat of the game, there’s tension. Yes Lachie would’ve seen what happened only a couple of seconds earlier – and obviously Ginnivan folded like a cheap suit, he’s fine, he gets up and runs away. So how is Lachie Neale going to miss the biggest game of his life at this stage?”