The issue of whether Boomer would be free to play in North Melbourne's preliminary final on Friday night hinged solely on whether the head clash he initiated was forceful impact to Selwood.

North successfully requested that Selwood give evidence, but his was of less benefit to the Kangaroos' and Harvey's cause than what was provided by his club doctor at Geelong, Chris Bradshaw.

Besides the known explanation from Friday night, that Selwood was treated for a cut above the eyebrow that required four stitches to close, Bradshaw's key testimony related to the regularity with which he treated him for head wounds. He said the midfielder, who he had treated for the entirety of his eight-year career, appeared to be particularly susceptible to head wounds, and that this year alone had regularly been treated with stitches for such wounds. Bradshaw also said it was possible – but not definite – that Selwood's latest wound had opened easily because of scar tissue from a previous wound.

That smoking gun was complemented by evidence from North Melbourne that Champion Data statistics had Selwood over the past three years having to leave the ground due to the blood rule on 14 occasions – twice as many as the next player or players. Furthermore, defence lawyer Will Houghton, QC – a former AFL tribunal prosecutor – distributed pictures from three matches over that period showing Selwood with cuts above his right eyebrow, just as he suffered last Friday night.

Oddly, the most concise explanation of why Harvey should be spared came from current AFL tribunal prosecutor Jeff Gleeson, who dubbed Selwood "the league leader of bleeders". His intent was to draw attention to the non-committal nature of Bradshaw's evidence, as well as his contention the wound was opened by "forceful contact", but the prevailing sense was that Harvey was  in this predicament because he had bumped the wrong player in the wrong place.

Houghton's closing argument that Selwood "didn't flinch" when holding his feet after the incident, and had a delayed reaction until checking his brow for blood – Selwood's evidence was he felt a trickle but was unsure whether it was sweat or blood – was the last thing heard by the jury of Emmett Dunne, David Neitz and Wayne Henwood, before their 10-minute deliberation.

During the 2012 finals  Houghton appeared on Harvey's behalf to a negative result, as the four-match suspension he had waived the option was increased to six. On this visit, however, Houghton's presence could not have been more positive for Harvey – but he should remember to add Dr Bradshaw to his Christmas card list.