Michael Barlow will also miss the game due to a knee injury.
Fyfe was given a two-week ban for contact with Gold Coast's Michael Rischitelli in the third quarter, while Dawson received one week for a tripping incident. General manager of football operations Chris Bond said: “Based on our review, legal advice we have received and following extensive discussions yesterday and again this morning, we have decided that it is in the best interests of both players that the club not challenge their suspensions.
“We are of the firm belief that in each case a challenge would have been unsuccessful. An unsuccessful challenge in each case would have seen both players, who already have carry over demerit points, risk further suspension if either player was again cited by the Match Review Panel.
“Not challenging the suspensions limits the amount of carry over demerit points for each player.”
In Fyfe’s case, Bond also noted a key change announced by the AFL Commission late last year to “further protect players from head injuries”.
Under the heading Rough Conduct, Head Clashes, the commission stated : “A player electing to bump will risk being cited for rough conduct if contact comes via a head clash, and players will be instructed a head clash should be reasonably foreseen when bumping.”
“Given the AFL Commission’s clear position on head clashes and our legal advice, we have decided that a challenge in Nat’s case would not be successful and if we were to proceed would risk him facing further suspension,” Bond said.
Based on the video evidence available and a medical report from Gold Coast, the incident was assessed as negligent conduct (one point), medium impact (two points) and high contact (two points).
This was a total of five activation points, resulting in a classification of a level two offence, drawing 225 demerit points and a two-match sanction.
Fyfe has a record of 50 demerit points carried over within the past 12 months, increasing the penalty to 275 points and a two-match sanction. An early plea only reduced the sanction by 25 per cent to 206.25 points and still a two-match sanction.
Dawson was charged with a level one tripping offence (80 demerit points, reprimand) for tripping Brandon Matera during the second quarter. Due to his previous poor record, an early plea means he can accept a one-match sanction.
Based on the video evidence available and a medical report from the Suns, the incident was assessed as reckless (two points), low impact (one point) and body contact (one point). This was a total of four activation points, resulting in a classification of a level one offence, drawing 80 demerit points.
Dawson has a record of 60 demerit points carried over within the past 12 months, increasing the penalty to 140 points and a one-match sanction. An early plea reduced the sanction by 25 per cent to 105 points and a one-match sanction.
Bond also confirmed that Barlow would be out for between four and six weeks after suffering a sprain in a lateral ligament in his left knee.
