Launceston look set to be without their coach for the first four games of 2023.
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Mitch Thorp was handed a two-match ban for misconduct for an incident in the Tasmanian State League grand final at a tribunal hearing on Tuesday night.
The former Hawthorn draftee also had a two-match suspended sentence over his head from a previous incident.
Given that he breached another National Community Football policy, the Blues will be without their three-time premiership coach for the first four games of next season.
They'll have until 5pm on Wednesday to decide whether they want to challenge the decision, which comes a week after the initial tribunal hearing was adjourned.
The suspension could have been worse for Thorp, who was facing a charge of serious misconduct after a half-time confrontation with Kingborough forward Tyler Carter.
The tribunal was not satisfied the indiscretion was serious, bumping down the charge.
However, due to the incident coming in the grand final, the charge was doubled to two weeks.
Moments after details of the incident were released, the Blues released a statement from independent legal advisor Grant Tucker on their Facebook page.
The statement read that the Blues are "bitterly disappointed" by the charge, with six separate defence witnesses including Carter called to give their version of events.
They said that the changerooms were positioned next to each other due to an AFL Tasmania error, meaning Carter and Thorp had to cross paths after the Kingborough player struck Launceston's Jacob Boyd behind play.
"LFC coaches and staff, including coach Mitch Thorp, were required to navigate past Kingborough's rooms," the statement read.
"Therefore, coach Thorp crossed paths with Tyler Carter and said words to the effect of 'don't hit our players behind play'.
"There was no contact and it was a passing comment."
The post read that Carter supported that version of events and that the Blues believe the two-week suspension is "manifestly excessive".
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