Lavington will appeal the suspension of coach Simon Curtis at Wednesday night's tribunal.
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Lavington coach Simon Curtis, arguably the league's best player, was suspended for two games, one suspended, after he was found guilty of carelessly striking Magpie Michael Bordignon in the last quarter of Saturday's grand final qualifier.
The Panthers face Myrtleford in Sunday's preliminary final, but the club will appeal the decision.
Given it doesn't expect a hearing could be quickly scheduled for Friday night, it will ask for a stay of sanction on Friday, which would allow Curtis to face the Saints at Wodonga's John Flower Oval.
Curtis also faced a careless striking charge at the tribunal against Magpies' tagger Will Reilly, but was cleared.
Wangaratta's Matt Kelly was also cleared of the same charge against Curtis.
The clubs initiated the citings with the match review panel submitting the charges.
There were no reports from umpires on the day.
Last year, Curtis accepted a one-match ban for striking Wangaratta's Mat Suckling.
Privately, Lavington is fuming with Wangaratta, claiming the Pies threw them 'under the bus'.
Lavington advocate Iain Findlay said contact was made to Bordignon with the open hand and the force was insufficient to warrant a charge.
But, in his evidence, Bordignon said he felt a blow to the back of the head.
His advocate Paul Dale said the incident warranted a two-match ban with tribunal chairman Wayne Taylor stating the evidence of the Magpies' player had played a major role in arriving at a guilty verdict.
During the Reilly incident, Curtis said he was trying to create separation between the Magpies' player and Lavington's Shaun Mannagh when contact was made, but there was no clenched fist and the incident would happen "50 times a game".
But Reilly said he graded the force of the blow a "6/7 out of of 10".
If Lavington wins through, it will set the scene for a must-watch grand final.
And the Pies won't appeal Zac Leitch's two-match ban.