The AFL Tribunal has warned players of their duty of care to avoid inflicting head injuries to their peers, as Richmond defender Nathan Broad was rubbed out for four matches for rough conduct despite the Tigers’ plea for a reduced sentence on grounds of good character.

The Tigers had called for a three-game suspension based on Broad’s clean tribunal record and remorse but were spared a heavier sentence by pleading guilty and not arguing for the impact of his sling tackle on Adelaide’s Patrick Parnell to be downgraded.

It took the panel of Jeff Gleeson, KC, Stewart Loewe and Jason Johnson about 20 minutes to hand the ban to Broad for his “unquestionably dangerous” tackle. Triple premiership player Broad will miss matches against Collingwood, Western Bulldogs, Sydney and Melbourne. The Tigers are already without first-choice defenders Robbie Tarrant, Josh Gibcus and Jayden Short due to injury.

Broad’s sanction is in line with the four-match suspensions meted out to Port Adelaide ruckman Scott Lycett and Melbourne forward Alex Neal-Bullen for dangerous tackles in 2021, which left their opponents concussed.

Crows forward Shane McAdam last week failed to have a three-match ban overturned on appeal for a bump on Greater Western Sydney’s Jacob Wehr, in which the Giants player was not concussed.

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“We have said previously, and we repeat tonight, players must do all that they reasonably can not to cause avoidable head injuries to their fellow players,” tribunal chairman Gleeson said.

“Every player is now taken to be aware of the damaging and sometimes long-term consequences of concussion. 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.”

The Tigers, represented by Michael Tovey, KC, sought to show Broad’s genuine remorse and contrition by reading an apology the player had sent to Parnell, whom he also contacted the day after the game.