Essendon midfielder Jake Melksham has accepted a two-match ban for striking Richmond’s Daniel Jackson in Saturday night’s loss to the Tigers.

General Manager of Football Danny Corcoran said there was consideration given to contesting the charge.

“We considered trying to get the charge downgraded from intentional conduct to reckless conduct,” Corcoran said.

“After consulting with Jake we did not want to risk him being unavailable for any more matches to start the 2014 season and have decided to accept the penalty.”

The Match Review Panel assessed the incident as intentional conduct (three points), low impact (one point) and high contact (two points). 

This is a total of six activation points, resulting in a classification of a Level Three Offence, drawing 225 demerit points and a two-match sanction. 

He has a bad record of 93.75 demerit points carried over within the last 12 months, increasing the penalty to 318.75 points and a three-match sanction. An early plea reduces the penalty by 25 per cent to 239.06 points and a two-match sanction.