Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong's Michael Rothnie will miss the Lions first final after accepting a two match ban

Rothnie has accepted a two-week suspension after being charged with rough conduct following a tackle that resulted in Turvey Park's Jack Haggar suffering a concussion.

The suspension means that Rothnie will miss this weekend's clash with the Eagles as well as the Lions first final likely against Coolamon.

Lions coach Sam Martyn said it would be disappointing that Rothnie will miss the next couple of games.

"I think it's really disappointing that he's not playing," Martyn said.

"I don't know if I'm speaking out of turn, but the first thing that they do when they get the footage is look for those sort of incidents.

"I just think a bit of decency could be applied and I think they have just gone the wrong way about it.

"It's a shame we don't have Roth, because he played a fantastic game on the weekend and he was building into some great form.

"It's disappointing that it's all happened, but hopefully Roth rests up and we get to build some fitness into him and he comes back raring to go."

MORE SPORT NEWS:

Martyn said he was pleased to get a tough win over Turvey, but was a little bit displeased with how the Bulldogs went about their footy on Sunday.

"It was a really pleasing win against Turvey on the weekend," he said.

"Especially for the first three quarters of the game we played some terrific footy and our ball movement was what we were most proud of.

"But we went away from that in the last quarter especially when Turvey tried to lower us to their standards.

"I thought there were a few incidents where they weren't focused on the football and were trying to make the game a bit of a scrap and play outside of the rules in a way.

"We didn't rise above that which was a bit of a shame and our brand suffered a bit as a result.

"I think making sure we focus on four quarters of football and disregarding what the opposition is doing and just focusing on what we need to do is the emphasis going forward."

A couple of great positives for the Lions was the successful return of duo Matt Hamblin and Tom Sase who both got through the Bulldogs game unscathed.

"It was great to have Matty and Tommy back even though they weren't in the most impactful roles they are used to," Martyn said.

"We wanted to make sure that they got through the game first and foremost.

"We probably used them sparingly in their best positions, but it was good to see Matty still have an impact on the game and for Tommy just to get through it.

"It has been at least three months since Tommy has played a game of football, so to be able to get a run into him leading up to finals is just fantastic."

Lachlan Parker injured an ankle in the win against the Bulldogs, however Martyn believes that the midfielder is still a chance to play this weekend against the Eagles.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: