Injured Port Adelaide star Chad Cornes has been handed a one-match suspension for striking St Kilda's Jason Blake, but could still be considered a winner out of his decision to visit the AFL Tribunal.

A 25 per cent penalty reduction for an early guilty plea to striking Blake in the opening quarter of Saturday night's match at AAMI Stadium would have enabled Cornes to accept a reprimand.

But it would also have left him saddled with 93.75 carryover points towards future offences.

Given he is set to miss three or four games anyway, after breaking a finger in the same match, the suspension for Sunday's game against Essendon at Telstra Dome is inconsequential.

And after serving the one-game ban, he will be left with only 25 carryover points, meaning he will be much better off if he is found guilty of another offence within the next 12 months.

While he is now ineligible to win this year's Brownlow Medal, that would have been true even if he submitted an early guilty plea, as the offence was worth more than 100 demerit points.

The only downside for Cornes out of his tribunal visit was that the one-match ban will mean a 10 per cent penalty loading if he commits another offence within the next three years.

Cornes argued that his blow with a forearm, which he said was aimed at Blake's body but slipped up to his neck, was not of enough force to constitute a strike.

He said it was a "show of strength" of the type that occurs "20 to 30 times a game" and he was stunned that Blake was even awarded a free kick.

But tribunal counsel Jeff Gleeson argued that while there was a "grey area" between what constituted a shove or a strike, Cornes' action was clearly in the latter category, as he had pulled his arm back then swung it through at Blake.

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