Barry Hall's self-confessed "mindsnap" earnt him a seven-match ban on Tuesday night at the AFL tribunal.

Given that tribunal chairman John Hassett "strongly" suggested to the jury that the Sydney key forward should receive a discount for pleading guilty, Hall's contrition probably saved him a rare double-figure suspension.

He received the penalty for his well-publicised punch to the jaw of West Coast opponent Brent Staker last Saturday night at ANZ Stadium, a blow that left Staker concussed.

According to the Eagles club doctor, Staker has a sprain in the jaw area and is a "50-50 chance" to play this Sunday against Port Adelaide.

"Mr Hall has thrown a punch that would make Rocky Balboa blush, but he wasn't wearing boxing gloves, he wasn't in the ring," tribunal advocate Jeff Gleeson said in his final submission.

"Mr Hall knew his opponent didn't expect to be punched in the jaw, let alone with this impact."

Those comments led to Hall's advocate Terry Forrest QC cautioning against "catchy insubstantial phrases" relating to popular movies.

Hall's punishment took him to a career total of 23 matches in suspensions, one more than Carlton enforcer David Rhys-Jones and Robert "Mad Dog" Muir in the AFL's gallery of rogues.

The jury handed Hall 790 demerit points, which meant the seven games plus effectively another match hanging over his head for the next year in carry-over points should he re-offend.

It was the first time since 2002 that Hall had received a suspension.

"Just in terms of the outcome I was prepared to cop whatever came my way," Hall said to the media after the hearing.

"Seven weeks we think's fair, as I said we were prepared to cop whatever came my way.

"I just want to take this opportunity to once again apologise to Brent Staker for the incident.

"It's unacceptable and I will try and better myself so it doesn't happen again."

It was another good night at the tribunal for Forrest, who famously earnt Hall a reprimand for striking in 2005, making him available for the grand final win over West Coast.

Forrest made a number of submissions regarding penalty, including a strong assertion that Hall deserved some sort of discount for pleading guilty.

He pointed out that under normal circumstances in the tribunal system, a guilty plea earns a 25 per cent discount.

But the Hall case was so severe, it was referred straight to the tribunal and the usual system of classifications and demerit points did not apply.

While Forrest was in the tribunal room, Hall appeared via a video link from Sydney, his right arm in a cast after wrist surgery.

Hall broke the wrist on Saturday night when he collided with the boundary fence, in a separate incident to the Staker punch.

Swans coach Paul Roos also gave character evidence from Sydney and said Hall was "very, very remorseful" for the incident.

Forrest said Hall's punch had undone a lot of good work over the last five years in curbing his on-field temper.

"He has got to start again now, his rehabilitation starts again."

Also on Tuesday night, Fremantle defender Steven Dodd and Geelong key forward Cameron Mooney had tripping charges downgraded from one-match bans to reprimands.

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