Richmond premiership player Nathan Broad has copped a four-week ban for his sling tackle at the Tribunal, while Gold Coast Suns player Charlie Ballard is free to play after downgrading a striking charge.

The Tigers attempted to reduce the suspension by citing his good character along with genuine remorse based on texts to Adelaide’s Patrick Parnell, after the incident left the young Crow concussed.

Broad pleaded guilty to all aspects of his charge, which was graded careless conduct with severe impact and high contact.

The AFL requested a four-week suspension for Broad, while the Tigers asked for three weeks - and if the Tribunal decided on four, wanted it reduced to three on the grounds of his “good character”.

Richmond’s legal representative Michael Tovey explained Broad demonstrated immediate remorse after the incident and sought out Adelaide coach Matthew Nicks post-game and former teammate-turned-Adelaide official Shane Edwards to acquire Parnell’s mobile number.

The club shared a text message sent by Broad to Parnell following the incident.

“Look, I don’t want you to accept my apology, but I shouldn’t have done it. Sorry mate. It was shithouse. Hope you’re okay and recover well,” it read.

However the Tribunal found four weeks was the minimum the act deserved.

“Every player is now taken to be aware of the damaging & sometimes long-term consequences of concussion,” Tribunal chairman Jeff Gleeson said after the decision.

“If not for the early guilty plea to all elements of the charge and the clear contrition, the starting point for the sanction may have been more than four matches.”

Ahead of the Tribunal, North Melbourne premiership player David King called on the AFL to draw a line in the sand and hand out a lengthy ban to the premiership defender.

“We’ve got one chance to stamp this out, and unfortunately, Nathan Broad and the Richmond footy club have to pay a price. That’s a six weeker for me,” King said on Fox Footy’s First Crack of an incident he deemed a “car crash”.

“You have to say: ‘Guys, you know the rules.’

“We stuffed this up with the bump totally and we’ve got all sorts of trauma with past players and we’ll be court for all sorts of reasons and all sort sorts of finances will drift out of the game.

“But players know with this one, they know when they’ve got a guy cold. That poor young fella there — Patrick Parnell — we can’t say what his injury is today.

“Because he doesn’t have a broken arm or broken leg, the trauma he’s going to suffer is down the track potentially. The game now has to get this right, you’ve got one chance, don’t stuff this up.

“If you give that six weeks, it will not happen again for the year. The grading was careless, high and severe — that’s the max. So don’t tiptoe through this one.”

Following Broad’s hearing, the Gold Coast Suns successfully downgraded Charlie Ballard’s one-match ban for striking.

Ballard’s incident with Essendon’s Matt Guelfi on Sunday was initially graded as intentional conduct with low impact and high contact.

The 23-year-old gave evidence, saying he was attempting to fend off Guelfi in order to get to a contest.

“My intent was to not get blocked,” he said.

“They were trying to block me and stop me getting to the ball to defend. I was just trying to avoid that in the most efficient way.”

Ballard added he didn’t believe the incident with Guelfi was forceful enough to warrant a free kick, which was paid on the day.

After deliberating for just over 20 minutes, the Tribunal downgraded conduct from intentional to careless, meaning Ballard recieved only a fine and was free to face Geelong on Sunday.