After deliberating for about 30 minutes, AFL Tribunal chairman Jeff Gleeson KC ruled that Xerri was guilty of “disgraceful behaviour” and would miss matches against Carlton, Brisbane and Richmond.
“The matters we have taken into consideration are as follows, the intentional act of wiping blood from your nose onto the face of another player is disgraceful behaviour,” Gleeson said.
“Xerri’s hand was quite close to McGrath’s open mouth. In circumstances where numerous players were pushing and shoving, the blood could quite easily have made contact with McGrath’s mouth.”
Gleeson said the incident met a serious misconduct charge, but praised Xerri for his “impressive, candid and remorseful evidence” which potentially saved him from a longer penalty.