The defender will have 97.50 demerit points hanging over his head with the early plea.
Michael Barlow has also accepted a reprimand for making reckless contact with an umpire. His initial fine of $2600 was reduced to $1950 with the early plea.
Based on the video evidence available and a medical report from the Tigers, the Match Review Panel assessed the Dawson incident as negligent conduct (one point), low impact (one point) and body contact (one point). This was a total of three activation points, resulting in a classification of a level one offence, drawing 125 demerit points and a one-match sanction.
Dawson has an existing bad record of five demerit points carried over within the last 12 months, increasing the penalty to 130 demerit points and a one-match sanction. The early plea reduced the sanction by 25 per cent to a reprimand and 97.5 points towards his future record.
