The appeals board took only 14 minutes to overturn Viney's two-match suspension on Thursday evening after hearing a forceful argument that he had not bumped Adelaide's Tom Lynch, rather that he had merely ''braced'' himself for contact.

Viney will be able to play against the Bulldogs on Saturday night, as a result of the overturning of the original verdict on Tuesday, when the AFL tribunal handed Viney a two-match ban that caused outrage in the football community.

The appeals board of Peter O'Callaghan QC, Brian Collis QC and ex-Richmond ruckman and solictor Michael Green listened to more than hour of arguments from both Viney's advocate, David Grace QC, and the lawyer acting for the AFL, Jeff Gleeson QC, who maintained that the appeal should be dismissed.

The case rested on the question - put to the appeals board by Grace - of whether Viney had in fact chosen to bump Lynch, who sustained suffered a broken jaw. The original tribunal decision was handed down by tough ex-league footballers - Wayne Schimmelbusch, Emmett Dunne and Wayne Henwood.

In his appeal for Viney, Grace continued the line that Viney had not intentionally bumped Lynch, but that he had ''braced'' to protect himself. Video footage was shown at different speeds and from various angles in an attempt to demonstrate that Viney's intent was to ''brace'' for a collision, not to bump.

The other argument for VIney was that circumstances were outside of his control and which could not reasonably be foreseen, as he approached the ball. Much of the legal-type discussion centred on ''reasonableness'', with an old English law from the 1940s, ''Wednesbury'' introduced (by Gleeson) as part of the argument.

After the verdict was announced, Melbourne football manager Josh Mahoney said the club had taken its stand - and gone to appeal - not simply for Viney, though the club supported the new bump rule.

Mahoney said it was important to take the stand, not only on behalf of Viney, ''but the good of the game''.

''There's been some confusion about our argument for this week. We certainly weren't saying anything about the bump. We actually support the rule that if a player chooses to bump and he makes head high contact, there's a chance that he may be cited,'' Mahoney said.

''However, our argument all along was that Jack was playing an instinctive game. He had ... a very limited reaction time to make a decision and it was all in protection of himself, rather than going for a bump.

''We were very happy with the findings and very happy with the hearing that we got.

''This was never about the bump. Our argument was that Jack had no option but to protect himself in that incident.''

Mahoney said some of the rules the AFL had introduced around protecting the head were ''terrific'', but collisions were inevitable and ''accidents do happen''.

''We felt that the jury had acted unreasonably and that was the case we put forward and we're fortunate enough to have it upheld tonight.''

Mahoney said players are comfortable with the rule - that if you choose to bump, there could be consequences from the AFL judicial system.

Viney said he ''always thought I was in the right'', adding, ''I thought nothing to lose ... why not appeal it, and it ended up coming off. Yeah, I'm rapt.

''My twitter's blown up and what not and everyone's gone berserk about it. The support's just been so overwhelming, and you know not just for myself, but the game in general. It's been a good result and everyone's shown their passion for it.''

Viney said the verdict had cleared up some of the confusion about bumping. ''Yeah, I think so ... people just putting themselves in a contested situations - it's not what you want to see going out of the game, you know. We'll just go back to normal now that it's all good.''

VIney said he was ''absolutely'' fine to play this weekend. ''It's been a really stressful couple of days but ... it's a challenge, but I'm really confident I'll be able to just calm down the next couple of days and just focus really heavily on my performance.

''There's lawyers in there talking lawyer talk, and I've got no idea what's going on and I was glad for David Grace to say well done, you won ... it did take me a while to register.''

The appeals board took only 14 minutes to overturn Viney's two-match suspension on Thursday evening after hearing a forceful argument that he had not bumped Adelaide's Tom Lynch, rather that he had merely ''braced'' himself for contact.

Viney will be able to play against the Bulldogs on Saturday night, as a result of the overturning of the original verdict on Tuesday, when the AFL tribunal handed Viney a two-match ban that caused outrage in the football community.

The appeals board of Peter O'Callaghan QC, Brian Collis QC and ex-Richmond ruckman and solictor Michael Green listened to more than hour of arguments from both Viney's advocate, David Grace QC, and the lawyer acting for the AFL, Jeff Gleeson QC, who maintained that the appeal should be dismissed.

The case rested on the question - put to the appeals board by Grace - of whether Viney had in fact chosen to bump Lynch, who sustained a broken jaw. The original tribunal decision was handed down by tough ex-league footballers - Wayne Schimmelbusch, Emmett Dunne and Wayne Henwood.

In his appeal for Viney, Grace continued the line that Viney had not intentionally bumped Lynch, but that he had ''braced'' to protect himself. Video footage was shown at different speeds and from various angles in an attempt to demonstrate that Viney's intent was to ''brace'' for a collision, not to bump.

The other argument for VIney was that circumstances were outside of his control and which could not reasonably be foreseen, as he approached the ball. Much of the legal-type discussion centred on ''reasonableness'', with an old English law from the 1940s, ''Wednesbury'' introduced (by Gleeson) as part of the argument.

After the verdict was announced, Melbourne football manager Josh Mahoney said the club had taken its stand - and gone to appeal - not simply for Viney, though the club supported the new bump rule.

Mahoney said it was important to take the stand, not only on behalf of Viney, ''but the good of the game''.

''There's been some confusion about our argument for this week. We certainly weren't saying anything about the bump. We actually support the rule that if a player chooses to bump and he makes head high contact, there's a chance that he may be cited,'' Mahoney said.

''However, our argument all along was that Jack was playing an instinctive game. He had ... a very limited reaction time to make a decision and it was all in protection of himself, rather than going for a bump.

''We were very happy with the findings and very happy with the hearing that we got.

''This was never about the bump. Our argument was that Jack had no option but to protect himself in that incident.''

Mahoney said some of the rules the AFL had introduced around protecting the head were ''terrific'', but collisions were inevitable and ''accidents do happen''.

''We felt that the jury had acted unreasonably and that was the case we put forward and we're fortunate enough to have it upheld tonight.''

Mahoney said players are comfortable with the rule - that if you choose to bump, there could be consequences from the AFL judicial system.

Viney said he ''always thought I was in the right'', adding, ''I thought nothing to lose ... why not appeal it, and it ended up coming off. Yeah, I'm rapt.

''My twitter's blown up and what not and everyone's gone berserk about it. The support's just been so overwhelming, and you know not just for myself, but the game in general. It's been a good result and everyone's shown their passion for it.''

Viney said the verdict had cleared up some of the confusion about bumping. ''Yeah, I think so ... people just putting themselves in a contested situations - it's not what you want to see going out of the game, you know. We'll just go back to normal now that it's all good.''

VIney said he was ''absolutely'' fine to play this weekend. ''It's been a really stressful couple of days but ... it's a challenge, but I'm really confident I'll be able to just calm down the next couple of days and just focus really heavily on my performance.

''There's lawyers in there talking lawyer talk, and I've got no idea what's going on and I was glad for David Grace to say well done, you won ... it did take me a while to register.''