West Coast player Adam Selwood has been cleared of a charge of using insulting language towards Fremantle's Des Headland at the AFL tribunal.

In a two-hour hearing, the two players gave differing accounts of a conversation between them in Saturday's match at Subiaco, which provoked Headland into punching and wrestling Selwood.

Headland gave evidence saying he was angered by what he believed were sexual references by Selwood to his six-year-old daughter.

But Selwood said he had not knowingly referred to Headland's daughter in his comments.

Later in the night, in a partial victory for Headland, he escaped sanction despite being found guilty of striking Selwood and of wrestling him.

The tribunal ruled that Headland was provoked by comments made by Selwood to such an extent that it constituted "exceptional and compelling circumstances", thereby giving them the discretion not to impose a penalty against him.

Had they not invoked the clause regarding provocation, he would have faced a three-match suspension for the striking charge and a $1,200 fine for the wrestling charge.

The tribunal cleared him of a second striking charge.

Outside the tribunal, Selwood said he had been smeared and defamed by what he said were untrue allegations made against him.

"I'm pleased with the decision," Selwood said.

"I've been deeply hurt, offended and defamed by some of the accusations.

"It's been a harrowing week and my reputation has been smeared.

"This is the first opportunity I've had to outline my side of the events.

"I want to reiterate that I never said the words that have been attributed to me and I never meant to offend Des or his family."

West Coast chief executive Trevor Nisbett, who gave character evidence via videolink from Perth on Selwood's behalf, said the entire process had been "disgraceful" and mediation would have been better.

"He has been dragged through the mud, in particular by a number of journalists," Nisbett told reporters in Perth. "I am very very pleased that his character is intact and he stands on his character.

"He is an outstanding young man who has been crucified in this issue."

Nisbett said Selwood had been labelled a paedophile by several people and he would "talk to our legal people" about what action to take.

The case against Selwood centred on evidence given by Headland, who told the tribunal that Selwood had told him "I f...ed her last night" in what he believed was a reference to a tattoo of his daughter on his arm.

He admitted he then hit Selwood in the stomach, in what he described as a "rib-tickler" and said he told him "that's my six-year-old daughter you're talking about".

Headland said Selwood responded by saying his daughter was a "slut" and that he had "f...ed her last night".

"That's when I grabbed him and we started wrestling and I snapped," Headland said.

But Selwood said the initial punch by Headland to his stomach was unprovoked.

And he said he had made only one reference to Headland's tattoo, at which time he was not aware that it was an image of the player's daughter.

"I saw that tatt on his arm and I said 'what's that shit on your arm?' and I said 'I was with a girl like that the other night.'"

Selwood said there was no other conversation between him and Headland, he had not used the words "f..." or "slut" and he had not known who the tattoo was of, other than it was a female.

Selwood did not give evidence in the case against Headland.

It meant Headland's testimony about what was said between the two players had to be accepted as fact by the jury, even though they had heard Selwood's differing account earlier in the night.

Grant Donaldson SC, defending Headland, made only a token effort to contest the striking and wrestling charges he was found guilty of, concentrating on the ultimately successful tactic of exerting the jury to find that he had been provoked.

He told the jury the provocation argument rested on whether they thought someone calling their six-year-old daughter a "slut" would result in them losing self-control.

Headland, who gave evidence from Perth, broke down in the tribunal room after the sitting was completed and rang his family from the room.

"It has been an emotional week from me and my family," Headland told reporters.

"What has been said has been said. I am just looking forward to getting out there on Sunday and playing against Melbourne."

Earlier in the night, Dockers midfielder Josh Carr was cleared of a charge of striking West Coast's Daniel Chick, after the Eagles' player modified his evidence during the tribunal hearing.

The case relied entirely on the evidence of the two players, with no video footage of the alleged incident and no other witnesses.

Chick initially told the tribunal that he was punched by Carr during the first five minutes of Saturday's match at Subiaco and said the blow had left him incapacitated for several minutes and he had then gone to the bench.

But, under cross-examination from Donaldson, Chick conceded he could not remember whether the incident occurred before or after his spell on the bench, which lasted about six minutes.

The jury took only seconds to deliberate before clearing Carr.

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