West Coast forward Quinten Lynch had his suspension halved at the AFL tribunal as the Eagles successfully argued for a downgrading of his rough conduct charge.

Lynch was facing a two-game suspension, but he will miss only Friday night's big home match against Geelong and be available for the round 17 match against St Kilda at Etihad Stadium.

The Eagles argued that his contact with the head of Carlton midfielder Marc Murphy should be graded low impact, rather than medium.

The tribunal jury took just three minutes on Tuesday night to agree with the argument.

Lynch had nothing to lose, because he was facing a two-match ban whether he took an early plea or went to the tribunal and lost.

The Eagles pleaded guilty to the charge, but argued that Murphy had suffered no ill effects from the contact.

The case was held over from last week because West Coast had the bye.

Murphy was going for the ball in the last quarter of the round-14 match when Lynch's upper leg made contact with the side of his face.

The Carlton player's head first went one way and then the other from the impact, with Eagles' advocate David Grace QC arguing that Murphy might have been trying to milk the contact for a free kick.

"The reaction was anything but violent. There was no potential here to cause serious injury," Grace said.

Grace also noted that no Carlton players remonstrated with Lynch and Murphy quickly went down to the Carlton forward line after taking the free kick for the high contact.

The Carlton medical report was also in Lynch's favour, saying Murphy had not needed any attention after the contact.

Apart from the downgrading of the charge, Lynch also had discounts for the early plea and his previous good record.

He had already pleaded guilty to a separate striking charge, also against Murphy.

Lynch received 126.56 points for the rough conduct charge and 45 points for the striking offence, taking him to a total of 171.56.

That means he serves a one-game ban and has 71.56 carryover points.

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