Fremantle has helped establish an AFL tribunal precedent, but ultimately failed in its bid to lessen the suspensions for Des Headland and Josh Carr.

After two marathon cases lasting a total of three hours, Headland and Carr were left with two-match bans - the same punishments they faced had they taken early pleas and not gone to the tribunal.

The tribunal took only 15 minutes to find Melbourne defender Nathan Carroll not guilty of melee involvement, saving him a $1500 fine.

Headland and Carr pleaded guilty to their striking charges via video link from Perth and then tried to downgrade the severity of their offences, a reasonably common tactic under the new tribunal system.

Where their cases were unusual was they were only half-successful.

The tribunal set the precedent on this point, saying the 25 per cent discount for the early guilty pleas could not apply.

The Dockers unsuccessfully argued there were "compelling and exceptional circumstances" when it came to penalty in the two cases.

If that bid worked, the discount would have applied and Carr and Headland would have only served one-match bans.

Instead, they will miss Sunday's away match against Carlton and the following Sunday game at home against Hawthorn.

A Dockers spokesman said the club would decide by Tuesday morning whether to appeal against the two decisions.

Fremantle successfully argued Headland's blow to the stomach of Demons opponent Simon Godfrey was reckless, a downgrade from intentional.

But the Dockers made a tactical error by also trying to downgrade the charge from "behind play" to "in play".

It was the first time under the new tribunal system that a player had tried to downgrade two classifications in the one case.

There seemed little doubt Headland hit Godfrey before the umpire bounced the ball to start Sunday's game at Subiaco and the jury agreed, meaning it was deemed behind play.

In his own testimony, Headland said "he (the umpire) was walking....to bounce the ball" when he struck Godfrey.

Under AFL rules, the game does not officially start until the ball is bounced.

So for the first time since this tribunal system started last year, an attempt to downgrade a charge classification only half-worked.

The tribunal then ruled against awarding the 25 per cent discount.

Carr was effectively seeking a double downgrade on the conduct of his striking charge - from the most-serious level of intentional down to negligent, bypassing reckless.

Given what had just happened in the Headland case, player advocate John Prior spent a few minutes discussing with Carr whether they should just seek a downgrade to reckless.

But Carr persisted with his argument that his push to Carroll's face during the half-time melee was negligent.

The jury took nearly half an hour to downgrade the charge, but only to reckless, and then the tribunal again ruled Carr was half-wrong, not half-right.

In evidence, it emerged Carr cannot make a fist with his right hand because of an injury to his little finger.

The Dockers tended a three-page surgeon's report as evidence.

Carr said he now has to handball with his left hand when possible.

Video evidence of the incident showed Carr pushing Carroll to the face with his right hand.

In an amusing moment during the Carr case, Carroll was compared in appearance to Mark "Chopper" Read because of his bushy moustache.

Following the two prolonged Fremantle cases, field umpire Michael Vozzo backed Carroll's argument that the Demon was caught up in the melee, rather than contributing to it.

Any lingering doubt about Carroll's fate evaporated when tribunal chairman David Jones said "if a player is trying to protect himself, it doesn't seem he would guilty of being involved in a melee".

That led to a unique moment when Carroll's advocate Iain Findlay said he did not need to sum up his case, because Jones had just done it for him.

The jury took barely two minutes to rule in Carroll's favour.

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