THE Western Bulldogs say they will consider their legal options after AFLW captain Katie Brennan’s appeal to overturn a two-match suspension failed on Thursday evening.

The Bulldogs’ case was dismissed on all four counts as the club put forward a case underlined by sexual discrimination. But the original two-match ban was upheld by the Appeals Board.

Bulldogs president Peter Gordon then told reporters the club will consider its legal options. Previously AFL clubs have gone to the Supreme Court in trying to free their players for Grand Finals.

The Sydney Swans did so for Andrew Dunkley in 1996, successfully delaying a tribunal hearing on a striking charge until after the Grand Final. Dunkley was later suspended for two games for striking James Hird.

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Currently, Brennan won’t feature in an AFLW match until Round 2 of next season.

The Bulldogs claimed Brennan was the victim of double standards. But the AFL’s representative at the hearing, Andrew Woods, refuted that argument altogether.

“The fundamental mistake that’s made with the discrimination point is that they overlook the fact that the rules are applied to thousands of men,” Woods said.

“Not AFL players, but suburban, rural and AFL Victoria players.

“The discrimination point sounds good superficially but it’s actually not a good point at all.”

Brennan was unsuccessful at the tribunal on Tuesday night as the club tried to overturn her one-match suspension for rough conduct, subsequently seeing it become a two-match ban.

Brennan was charged with rough conduct against Melbourne’s Harriet Cordner after a sling tackle which was judged as careless conduct with low impact to the head.

It was Brennan’s second reprimand of the season, which in AFLW equates to a suspension. In the men’s competition Brennan would have simply been fined instead, but due to the low pay levels in the women’s competition fines are judged to be unfair.

At Tuesday night’s tribunal hearing, the Bulldogs strangely did not argue the classification of the incident. Instead after the guilty finding Brennan’s advocate Sam Norton argued her impact on women’s football made for mitigating circumstances.

But what especially confused many — including Bob Murphy — was when Murphy’s absence in the 2016 AFL Grand Final was raised as a reason for Brennan to play in the Grand Final of a separate competition.

The tribunal panel judged this to be irrelevant.

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