Port Adelaide have decided against appealing the three-game ban handed down to Shaun Burgoyne by the AFL tribunal.

Burgoyne was suspended for three games on Tuesday night after he lost his challenge to a charge of engaging in rough play on Hawthorn skipper Sam Mitchell.

After 37 minutes of deliberation, the tribunal jury decided to downgrade one aspect of Burgoyne's charge, high impact to medium.

That reduced the penalty to two games, but Burgoyne's carry-over points increased the penalty to three matches.

Power football operations manager Peter Rohde said on Wednesday the club had decided against an appeal in view of the possible grounds for such a move.

The club saw very little chance for a successful outcome, Rohde said.

Meanwhile, coach Mark Williams has launched a strident attack on Burgoyne's suspension.

Williams said the verdict, handed out for an incident in which Port midfielder Burgoyne's back made contact with Hawthorn centreman Sam Mitchell's head during last week's Power v Hawks game in Launceston, "tears at the fabric of the game".

Port have decided against appealing the verdict because the club doesn't believe it would be able to achieve a positive result.

Instead Williams made an appeal through the media, urging an inquiry into the penalty handed out to the renowned ball player for something he maintained was an accident and its potential impact on the game.

"We are very, very disappointed with the result, Shaun Burgoyne and everyone would agree he's one of the most skilful and fair players to have ever played AFL football, certainly up there with Chris Judd in the way he plays, fast, skilful, fair," Williams said.

"The result is wrong, there has to be an inquiry into it, there has to be a view of how a coach and team and club plays contested football if that particular incident gets three weeks suspension for a player like Shaun."

Williams said the AFL coaches association should play a role in investigating the verdict and its wider ramifications for the game.

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