MELBOURNE midfielder Jack Viney will be sidelined for two matches after the Tribunal found him guilty of rough conduct in what was described as a landmark hearing on Tuesday night. 

In a controversial case that saw Adelaide forward Tom Lynch suffer a broken jaw, Viney was found to have bumped rather than braced for impact in a three-way collision.  

The charge was referred directly to the Tribunal by the Match Review Panel so it could be examined thoroughly and the Demons hard nut could give his account. 

The jury of Wayne Henwood, Wayne Schimmelbusch and Emmett Dunne took 19 minutes to reach their guilty verdict before classifying the incident as negligent conduct, high contact and medium impact.

They hit Viney with a total of 200 demerit points and a two-match ban. It is unlikely Melbourne will appeal the penalty.    

The incident occurred in Saturday's clash at the MCG, with Lynch and Viney moving towards a contested ball from opposite directions and the Crows goalkicker winning possession. 

Viney, who was marginally beaten to the ball, made contact to Lynch's neck in a collision that he said could not be avoided, given the speed at which he was travelling.

The Demons midfielder said: "I felt like I had a reasonable opportunity to win the football (and) there was a point in time where the ball could have bounced my way." 

Once the ball bounced towards Lynch, and Viney could no longer win possession, he said he turned to brace himself and had no way of avoiding contact.

"Not at any stage was I trying to bump - I was purely trying to brace myself for impact," he told the Tribunal. 

"It happened in a very short space of time. There was about half a second where the ball could have bounced either way."

AFL legal counsel Jeff Gleeson proposed Viney could have "spun out" of the impending collision, rather than bracing for contact. 

Viney said there "was not a lot of time to think about complex manoeuvres like spinning".            

Lynch was involved in a head clash with opponent Alex Georgiou, who was trailing the Adelaide forward. Georgiou also left the ground with concussion.

Hawthorn champion Dermott Brereton said it would be a "landmark decision" if Viney was found guilty, with the AFL effectively ruling "we don't want any injuries, regardless of the scenario". 

He also told radio station SEN he would not attend official Hall of Fame events in protest of the guilty verdict.

More to come ...