Merrett had originally been offered a two-match sanction for an incident involving St Kilda Captain Nick Riewoldt during last Saturday night’s match at the Gabba.
An early guilty plea would have reduced his sentence to just one match, however the Lions believe there is a sufficient case to defend at the Tribunal.
Daniel Rich, meanwhile, is set to miss the next two matches after the accepting his rough conduct charge.
Rich had initially received a three-match sanction from the Match Review Panel for an incident involving St Kilda’s Clinton Jones, but the penalty was reduced to two matches with an early guilty plea.
It means the 22 year-old will be sidelined for this Saturday’s QClash against Gold Coast at Metricon Stadium, as well as the team’s Round 18 trip to his home-town of Perth to face the West Coast Eagles.
Rich has so far enjoyed his finest AFL season to date, playing in every senior match and averaging a career-best 22 disposals per game in 2012. He is also the Club’s equal third highest goal-kicker for the season with 14.
He has proven particularly damaging in QClash’s as well, collecting more than 20 disposals and booting three goals in each of his two previous meetings with the Suns (NB: he missed QClash 2 with a foot injury).
Stay tuned to lions.com.au this evening for further updates on Daniel Merrett’s outcome at the AFL Tribunal.
Merrett will be one of three players facing the Tribunal tonight, with North Melbourne’s Jack Ziebell and Carlton’s Chris Judd also set to plead their cases.
