Fremantle's Dean Solomon will not play for the rest of the year after the AFL Tribunal tonight banned him for eight matches for a crunching hit that put Geelong midfielder Cameron Ling in hospital.

Solomon's penalty is the heaviest for an AFL player since Carlton's Greg Williams was rubbed out for nine weeks after pushing an umpire in 1997.

It was originally reported Ling would be out of action for three to four weeks, but a medical report tended at tonight's hearing stated he could be sidelined for up to six weeks.

Solomon, 28, appeared via video link from Perth and made no comment as he left the hearing. But Fremantle football manager Robert Shaw told AAP the club would seek legal advice on the length of the penalty.

With Fremantle unable to make the finals, the ban means Solomon will not be free to play again until round two next year.

Sydney's Barry Hall received a seven-game penalty this year for striking West Coast's Brent Staker, an action for which he also pleaded guilty.

Solomon had pleaded guilty to striking Ling with his elbow in the first term of Saturday's spiteful game at Skilled Stadium.

The crude hit left Ling with a depressed fracture of the cheekbone that required surgery.

Solomon apologised for his actions immediately after the match, tried to speak with Ling on Sunday and exchanged text messages with him after the cats' midfielder was out of surgery.

Both the Hall and Solomon cases were sent straight to the Tribunal by the AFL match review committee.

At the Hall hearing, tribunal chairman David Jones strongly suggested to the jury that it apply a 25% discount for a guilty plea. Last night, he said only that the jury could take Solomon's guilty plea into account but it was a matter for them, as was a 30% loading for suspensions totalling three matches Solomon has served in the past three years.

Handing down the jury's decision, spokesman Emmett Dunne gave no detail as to how it had arrived at a total of 850 demerit points.

The suspension could also decide Solomon's future at Fremantle, with the Essendon premiership defender out of contract at the end of this year. His manager, Michael Quinlan, said yesterday contract negotiations were underway and he expected agreement on a two-year deal.

Former Essendon colleagues also provided character references, the most heartfelt coming from Adam Ramanauskas, who told the tribunal in a letter that Solomon had ''almost gone through the illness with me,'' including when ''the question of my mortality'' came up.

Ramanauskas said that ''the real Dean Solomon was not the person we saw for a couple of seconds on Saturday''.

Kevin Sheedy said he was sure Solomon would bitterly regret his action and praised his loyalty and commitment to club and teammates.

James Hird wrote that he was sure Solomon's action ''would have left him feeling sick'' and was out of character.