Pies ruckman guilty but all clear to play

COLLINGWOOD ruckman Brodie Grundy is free to play in Round 1 after escaping with a fine for a heavy hit on Western Bulldogs forward Tory Dickson at the weekend.

Dickson had dished off a handball before he was collected by Grundy in the second quarter of the side’s clash in Moe on Saturday.

The Bulldog left the field momentarily before returning to play out the game.

Grundy was yesterday cited by AFL match review officer Michael Christian for rough conduct but escaped suspension, instead being offered a $2000 fine for the bump, which was deemed careless with low impact to the head.

The outcome would have come as a relief to the Pies, with coach Nathan Buckley confirming on Saturday his side would already be without Jamie Elliot (ankle), Daniel Wells (achilles tendon soreness), Jordan De Goey (hamstring) and Levi Greenwood (knee) for its opening match of the season against Hawthorn.

Utility Tyson Goldsack will miss the season with a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament suffered on Saturday and Alex Fasolo (shoulder) still has to prove his fitness for Round 1.

Three other players were also cited by Christian for incidents from the weekend’s final JLT Community Series matches, with Hawthorn’s Jarman Impey ($1500) and Gold Coast’s Tom Lynch ($2000) offered fines for misconduct and rough conduct.

Essendon’s Josh Green was charged with staging after exaggerating contact from Geelong’s Mitch Duncan on Sunday and offered a $1000 fine as his first offence.

Port Adelaide forward Robbie Gray will be the only player serving a suspension in Round 1 after his one-match ban was upheld on appeal at the AFL Tribunal for a high bump on West Coast’s Jeremy McGovern in the first week of the preseason series.

“Andy has played two good ones out of three,” Lyon said of Brayshaw’s overall pre-season campaign.

“He was down the week before, but I thought he was really sharp [on Sunday].

“He’s done everything right. We would like to play him. He’s an important part of our future, and we want to get games into him.”

There were plenty of positives to come out of Fremantle’s pre-season.

After suffering a 10-point loss to the Crows in Adelaide in week one, Fremantle bounced back to beat the Eagles twice.

Their performance on Sunday against the Eagles was the best of the lot. Fremantle won the inside 50m count 61-33 as their midfield ran riot.

Lachie Neale finished with 36 disposals and three goals, while goalsneak Hayden Ballantyne bounced back to form with 3.3.

Matt Taberner presented well up front and finished with two goals.

Lyon said brothers Bradley Hill (quad) and Stephen Hill (calf) remained outside chances to play in round one.

Harley Bennell (calf) is another player still working his way back to full fitness. AAP