Paul Curtis Fails Tribunal Appeal, Faces Three-Game Ban

paul curtis will serve a three-match suspension after failing to overturn his ban at the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday. North Melbourne now has to plan for three games without its forward, starting with this Sunday's clash against Richmond.

Curtis was charged after a crunching tackle in Saturday's clash at Optus Stadium left West Coast wingman Hamish Davis concussed. Davis took no further part in the game after his head hit the turf, and the Match Review Officer graded the first-quarter incident as careless, severe impact and high contact, drawing a three-game ban.

Hamish Davis and Optus Stadium

The tackle ended Davis' afternoon immediately, and that sequence set the case against Curtis in motion. The tribunal heard Curtis' bid to overturn the suspension on Tuesday, but the ban remained in place.

North Melbourne must now cover the loss of a forward across Richmond, Essendon and Port Adelaide. Curtis' absence also extends a disciplinary pattern: he copped a three-game ban last year for a dangerous tackle on Port Adelaide's Josh Sinn, and he was unsuccessful when he appealed that suspension at the Tribunal.

North Melbourne's short-term problem

The immediate consequence for North Melbourne is straightforward. Curtis is unavailable for the next three matches, and the club enters the Richmond game already knowing the suspension will stretch into meetings with Essendon and Port Adelaide.

For Curtis, the Tuesday ruling leaves no further avenue in this case inside the Tribunal process described here. For North Melbourne, the practical task is to replace a forward who has already been through the same disciplinary path once before and lost again.