Belle Dawes cleared to play in Brisbane preliminary final after AFLW tribunal rejects knock ban on Ainslie Kemp

Belle Dawes is free to play in Brisbane’s AFLW qualifying final after a one-match ban was rejected by the court.

Two-time premiership winner Dawes was penalized after charging ahead of Hawthorn’s Ainslie Kemp in the second quarter of their last win in the qualifiers.

Kemp was cleared of concussion but suffered cervical impaction; Dawes’ conduct was rated as careless conduct, medium impact and high contact.

However, the court lifted the ban after two hours of deliberation on Wednesday.

Presiding judge Renee Enbom KC acknowledged Dawes had limited options during the game.

“Deciding on this charge was not easy,” Enbom said.

“The collision involved a lot of force and was disturbing to watch… Ms. Dawes had few options to minimize the collision that had become inevitable.”

The Lions had argued that Dawes did not lunge at Kemp or was careless in his movements; The 23-year-old had said he chose to fight but was too close to Kemp to do so safely.

“I didn’t mean to hurt him,” Dawes said.

“My next move was to try to get out of the situation.

“I didn’t realize I was jumping at the time. I was just trying to move my head and shoulders away from him.

“I didn’t want to get a concussion either. A few of them tried to tackle hard and I was just trying to get away.

“You could say Craig (Starcevich, Brisbane coach) wouldn’t have been happy that I didn’t complete the challenge, but I guess in that situation I was just trying to get out of harm’s way for both of us.”

The Lions host a preliminary final against either Adelaide or Fremantle next week, while Hawthorn will face Port Adelaide in the semi-final on Saturday.

Kemp is expected to join the Hawks.

AAP