Sydney will be without a recognised ruckman for Saturday night's AFL game against the undefeated West Coast after the tribunal found ruckman Darren Jolly guilty of kneeing.

Jolly was found guilty of misconduct in that he kneed former Melbourne teammate Simon Godfrey at the SCG last Saturday night, and his ban left the Swans severely vertically-challenged as Jason Ball and Stephen Doyle are both injured.

Sydney gave a strong indication it would appeal, but if that fails, Swans coach Paul Roos will use either reluctant ruckman Adam Goodes, who injured his knee contesting a centre bounce last year, or tall defender Lewis Roberts-Thomson in the ruck against the Eagles.

Jolly's case was based solely on video evidence, which showed the Swan jumping towards Godfrey in an attempt to reach the ball, which bounced above him.

There was no clear footage of Jolly's knee making contact.

Although his right knee was raised and headed towards the Demon's midriff, Jolly denied his knee made contact with Godfrey and that as he changed direction, his shin made slight contact.

"I didn't want to run into Godfrey so my body changed direction to the left," he said.

"I did feel a slight brush in the lower part of my shin as I went past."

Jolly said he always jumped with his right knee raised and he knew he was in an "awkward situation" when he realised he would not be able to reach the ball.

Asked by AFL legal counsel Andrew Tinney why his knee kept going up and towards Godfrey, Jolly said he could not stop moving once he had been committed towards the ball.

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