ROO RELIEF

CLARENCE is breathing a sigh of relief today with its reigning best and fairest Jack Gleeson’s suspension being downgraded last night.

It means the star onballer will be allowed to be a part of September action.

Gleeson has been given a one-week suspension, which keeps him one game away from getting an automatic deregistration.

With Gleeson’s record of misdemeanours, a two-match ban would have seen him reach the 16-match suspension threshold.

If a player reaches this level they receive an automatic deregistration.

Under the AFL’s national policy, any player who accumulates 16 matches of suspension is banned from playing in any registered competition in Tasmania.

A marathon independent tribunal hearing last night found Gleeson guilty of contact to the head and reduced his threegame sanction to one game.

Gleeson was reported in Clarence’s game against Lauderdale on Saturday for intentional high contact to Lauderdale player Jordon Roberts.

The match review panel offered Gleeson a three-match sanction that could be reduced to two matches with an early plea, but the Clarence Football Club decided to fight the suspension in the hope to have its star player for finals. The decision paid off with Gleeson set to miss this week’s game against Glenorchy, but he will be back to take on Lauderdale in the TSL qualifying final — Clarence’s first final since 2014.

Gleeson was one of Clarence’s best players during its one-point win over Lauderdale on Saturday and his availability for the next match is no doubt a huge bonus for the Roos.

The tough midfielder will be walking a tightrope for the rest of the season with him needing only one more week of suspension to hit the 16-week threshold.

Gleeson’s rap sheet starts in 2012 with a four-match ban for striking and includes one-week and three-week suspensions for rough contact in 2015.

The biggest dent to Gleeson’s record came in Clarence’s final game of last season when he was handed a six-match ban for striking Lauderdale’s Blake Newell.

Another case at the tribunal found Lauderdale’s Nick Grubb guilty of rough conduct from a Mercury Cup game.

Grubb has been handed a three-match ban.