A WEEK after Sydney's Adam Goodes was ridiculed as a protected species because he was reprimanded for a high bump on West Coast's Adam Selwood, Hawthorn's young superstar Lance Franklin has been offered the same lenient treatment despite the AFL's early season crackdown on high contact.

Franklin can accept a reprimand after he was charged with rough conduct for elbowing Adelaide's Michael Doughty during the Hawks' narrow victory at AAMI Stadium on Saturday night.

That would mean he is available for the Hawks' match against the Kangaroos next Saturday at the MCG.

However, like Goodes, he would be ineligible for the Brownlow Medal, an award for which he must have some chance given his eye-catching performances in topping the goal-kicking list with 60 goals - even allowing for the fact no key forward has won the award since St Kilda's Tony Lockett in 1987.

The Hawks have until 11am today to decide whether to challenge the decision at the tribunal. However, already this season, another Hawthorn Brownlow Medal fancy, Hawks captain Sam Mitchell, has accepted a reprimand for tripping having placed the desire to play the next game ahead of Brownlow eligibility.

As with the Goodes case, the match review panel assessed the impact of Franklin's blow to Doughty's head as being "low".

In other high-profile incidents involving head-high contact by the Western Bulldogs' Robert Murphy, West Coast's Beau Waters and Port Adelaide's Shaun Burgoyne, the contact had been assessed as "medium", meaning that, with the incidents classed "negligent" and "high contact", a suspension was automatic.

Meanwhile, the AFL will not schedule a match on Good Friday next year despite interest from some clubs in adding the date to the list of so-called blockbusters.

The league has previously not held matches on Good Friday out of respect for the day's religious significance and because of a clash with the Good Friday Appeal conducted on behalf of the Royal Children's Hospital by long-time broadcaster Channel Seven.

In a statement yesterday, AFL chief executive Andrew Demetriou said "the executive had looked closely at the broadcasting arrangements for the Easter weekend and was of the view that a match on Easter Thursday worked extremely well for the competition, before games on Easter Saturday, Easter Sunday and Easter Monday".