GWS are considering appealing the one-match suspension handed to Toby Greene by the AFL tribunal in a bid to clear him for Friday night's finals-shaping clash with Richmond.
Greene was initially offered a two-match ban for striking after his high fend-off against Patrick Dangerfield saw the Geelong star taken to hospital, where he was found to have a bruised laryngeal.
Match review officer Michael Christian graded the incident as careless conduct, high impact and high contact.
The Giants immediately opted to challenge the automatic two-match penalty at the tribunal and saw it halved on Tuesday night.
They successfully argued the impact to Dangerfield was medium, rather than high, citing an updated medical report from Geelong that indicated the midfielder would not miss any training sessions or matches.
But the Giants could not convince the jury Greene's elbow to Dangerfield's throat did not constitute careless conduct.
"We believe we presented a strong case," GWS general manager of football Jason McCartney said.
"Pleasingly, it was acknowledged that the impact was only medium, but we are still disappointed in the overall assessment tonight.
"We have the avenue to appeal, so we will consider aspects of the judgement."
Greene, who was not called to give evidence on Tuesday night, described the Dangerfield clash as a "football incident" in a 3AW radio interview over the weekend.
In his tribunal submission, Greene's legal counsel Adrian Anderson said it was a "natural football reaction to attempt to push away from an opponent that we see every weekend".
But the three-man jury - consisting of former AFL/VFL players Stewart Loewe, Shane Wakelin and Richard Loveridge - rejected that suggestion.
"The jury believes (Greene) chose to use a raised elbow to fend off player Dangerfield in circumstances where there was a realistic probability that there would be high contact," Tribunal chairman Ross Howie said.
AFL legal representative Jeff Gleeson said a not guilty verdict would be a green light for other players to adopt a similar technique in future.
"It was an incident that occurred because of inherently dangerous technique, not because of a so-called 'football action' or a reflex action," Gleeson said.
"It's a technique that he adopts and it's a careless technique."
Greene's absence would be a huge blow for injury-hit GWS against Richmond.
The eighth-placed Giants are just two points clear of a chasing pack of four clubs, including the Tigers, with two home-and-away rounds left to play.
GWS will now consider taking Greene's case to the AFL Appeals Board, where he unsuccessfully sought to have a suspension thrown out before a preliminary final in 2019.
On a busy Tuesday night, the tribunal upheld Fremantle midfielder Andrew Brayshaw's one-match suspension for intentionally making "unnecessary or unreasonable contact" to the eye region of Brisbane's Jarrod Berry.
A jury of Loveridge, Wakelin and Paul Williams dismissed Brayshaw's evidence that his contact to Berry's face in a tackle was careless rather than intentional.
Brayshaw looks set to miss the derby clash with West Coast on Sunday as the finals race heats up, but the Dockers will consider appealing his ban.
Essendon defender Mason Redman had his one-match suspension for rough conduct against Western Bulldogs captain Marcus Bontempelli downgraded to a $2000 fine.
Redman successfully argued the impact to Bontempelli was low, rather than medium, citing the Bulldogs' medical report.
Redman will be available for the ninth-placed Bombers in their meeting with Gold Coast.
