West Coast star Harley Reid has had his two-match ban for a dangerous tackle on St Kilda’s Darcy Wilson upheld at the AFL Tribunal.

Reid’s tackle was originally graded by Match Review Officer Michael Christian as careless conduct with high impact and high contact, with the ‘impact’ grading increased due to the potential to cause injury.

This triggered a two-game suspension that ruled the young gun out of contention for the AFL Rising Star Award, for which he was a heavy favourite.

In challenging the verdict with the Tribunal, the Eagles argued it should have only been graded as ‘medium’ impact due to Wilson playing out the rest of the match, and therefore only worth a single week’s suspension.

Reid was supported at the hearing by his parents, who had headed across from Victoria to Perth.

At the hearing, Eagles counsel David Grace claimed Wilson’s arm and elbow hit the ground before his head to cushion the impact, before comparing the incident to other dangerous tackles this year which only received one-match suspensions or even less, including Charlie Cameron’s tackle on Jake Lever for which he was controversially cleared due to his previously outstanding disciplinary record.

While Reid did not give evidence to the hearing, Fox Footy reporter David Zita amusingly noted he reacted to AFL counsel Sally Flynn’s argument that the two-week ban was warranted because the tackle was laid with excessive force with no attempt to slow Wilson’s momentum by continually shaking his head, before vociferously nodding when the Eagles’ argument began.

The upheld ban means Reid will miss the Eagles’ matches against North Melbourne and Essendon, on either side of their Round 14 bye.

Earlier, Western Bulldogs forward Rhylee West successfully had his one-match ban for a high bump on Jeremy Howe overturned by the Tribunal, clearing him to face Brisbane on Friday night.

West was handed the suspension by Christian after clipping the Magpies defender in the head during their Round 12 match, with the grading coming in as careless conduct with medium impact and high contact.

However, the Bulldogs successfully argued that West’s intention in the contest was to tackle Brayden Maynard, with the Tribunal agreeing that his conduct was not unreasonable under the circumstances.