READ MORE - Cam McGlashan given reprimand at BFNL tribunal
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THE BFNL independent tribunal has handed out nine matches worth of suspensions from last Sunday's fiery elimination final between Golden Square and Sandhurst.
Even if the Bulldogs, who play Gisborne in this Sunday's first semi-final, were to win their way through to the grand final, the duo of Adam Baird and Braydon Welsh won't play any further part in their finals campaign.
Star on-baller Baird was handed a four-match penalty for a report of engaging in rough conduct against Sandhurst's Jake McLean, while tenacious defender Welsh was suspended for three games for striking.
Also copping a suspension was Sandhurst's Andrew Collins, but his two-match ban for rough conduct will have to be served next year with the Dragons' season having ended last weekend.
Baird pleaded guilty to the report laid by field umpire Scott Baxter on Monday after he had watched vision of the incident that left Sandhurst's McLean with 10 stitches to a head wound and concussed.
The report stemmed from contact made to McLean's head by Baird, who said he "turned his body to bump" and got McLean high with his backside and elbow.
"I didn't intentionally try to hit him high... I made a split decision to bump when I should have tackled," Baird said.
Asked for his recollection of the incident, McLean said: "I don't remember anything."
Having been concussed, McLean said it felt like he had "woken from a dream" when he regained his bearings and that he felt "dazed and confused".
Baird and McLean are former Golden Square team-mates, with Baird closing out the hearing by apologising "for any harm I've caused".
Meanwhile, Collins was reported by central umpire Paul Smythe, who deemed the high contact the Dragons' star made to Welsh after he had disposed of the ball as unreasonable.
Smythe said he saw Collins make contact across the side of Welsh's neck with his left arm, which then drove both players into the goalpost.
Welsh believed the contact to be unreasonable and that he had a "bit of a sore neck, but nothing major".
Collins pleaded not guilty, saying instead he was "guilty of a bloody poor tackle" and "poor technique", but that his intention was not to make high contact or to send Welsh into the goalpost.
"It was clumsy and poor, but I don't believe it was severe rough play," Collins said.
The tribunal panel disagreed and suspended Collins - who was yellow carded on the day - for two matches.
The Collins incident then led to the report laid against Welsh for striking Collins by Smythe after viewing footage of the incident on Monday.
Welsh said that when he got up off the ground after the contact from Collins, he "threw a couple of punches, one of which hit him."
"It's pretty embarrassing looking at the vision; I let myself down and most of all my team," Welsh said.
In giving his evidence, Collins - who had a black left eye - said "the vision speaks for itself... I was trying to fend off an array of obstacles going at me through that period."
While Collins said he couldn't categorically say it was Welsh who was the cause of his black eye, although he assumed it was him when pressed by the tribunal, he rated the severity of the force an eight out of 10.
Smythe said he didn't lay a report on the day because he didn't want to guess if contact had been made or not by Welsh to Collins.
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