Essendon will contest the Mark McVeigh striking charge this afternoon in the hope of getting the Match Review Panel's ""high contact"" assessment (two points) downgraded.
Even if Essendon is successful at the Tribunal, McVeigh will still miss Saturday's clash with the Western Bulldogs, however, a downgraded assessment will improve his record and will affect any future charges.
Essendon has accepted a one-game sanction against Dustin Fletcher for striking Kane Tenace on Friday night and he will not play this weekend.
The Tribunal will sit tonight at 5pm to hear the McVeigh appeal.
McVeigh has been charged with striking Gary Ablett, Geelong, during the third quarter of the Round 14 match between Essendon and Geelong, played at Telstra Dome on Friday July 6, 2007.
The incident was assessed 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 Two offence, drawing 225 demerit points and a two-match sanction. He has an existing poor record of one match suspended within the last three years, increasing the penalty by 10 per cent to 247.50 points and a two-match sanction.
