BARRY Hall is facing another suspension of possibly two matches and could be unavailable for Sydney's crucial clash with Hawthorn after the match review panel today views an incident involving the Swan and Collingwood defender Shane Wakelin.

Unlike the Hall punch that shook the AFL just three months ago and resulted in a seven-week suspension, this one appeared to make only brushing contact with Wakelin. But it still could result in a charge.

The controversial incident took place in the second quarter of Sydney's 29-point loss to the Magpies at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night, and while there has been debate about whether or not Hall connected when he thrust his right arm in Wakelin's direction, the reality is it may not matter.

Under the AFL's rules, Hall can be charged with "attempting to strike, kick or trip" an opponent. Such a charge carries 80 demerit points, and, on its own, such a penalty would not constitute a match ban. But because of his left hook to Brent Staker's chin, Hall has a loading of 50% at the tribunal, and also 90 carry-over points from that incident.

What that means is he would get 80 demerit points for the swing, another 40 points for the 50% loading, and then the 90 carry-over points, adding up to 210 points, which means a two-match ban.

Hall could, however, take an early guilty plea, get a 25% reduction, and miss one match.

Wakelin was evasive about the contact when asked after the match if Hall had connected with his chin: "Not with my chin, no. Some of the boys told me they saw it on the scoreboard afterwards, but I didn't even see it, so I'm not sure what happened. We'll have to see what happens on Monday night."

The defender had hit the ground immediately after the incident, but was soon back on his feet.

He said he was trying to "milk the free kick".

Not surprisingly, the Swans were not keen to speak about the matter after the game or yesterday, with coach Paul Roos declaring after the game, he "didn't see anything, I haven't heard about anything and nobody has said anything to me," before adding "but I wasn't concerned about Goodesy (Adam Goodes) last week either."

Sydney defender Craig Bolton followed the same line yesterday. "I haven't seen it and haven't heard anything about it so I can't really comment on that," Bolton, Sydney's best in the loss to the Magpies, said.

Asked if the leadership group would look at an apparent lack of discipline, the co-captain added: "I read something that there might have been a small incident and if there was we'll look at that and address it.

"Hally has been really good since he's come back and, until I see otherwise, there's no point speculating."

Sydney was very disappointing against Collingwood. Searching for their seventh win in succession, the Swans were comprehensively outplayed by the Pies, who moved into fifth spot, just six points behind the Swans on the ladder, courtesy of the win.

The Swans have won the games they were expected to win in the first half of the season, but their run to the finals is a much tougher draw, beginning with Hawthorn next week, and followed in coming weeks by clashes with Geelong, the Western Bulldogs, and another bogy team in Adelaide.

"We've had a good run of late but last night was a bit of a wake up. They are a good side and we're going to come up against a lot of sides like that in the future, so we've really got to lift our intensity if we want to be competitive," Bolton said.

"We've got a really big back end of the season, we've got some really good teams we've got to come up against and play. While it is a wake-up call for us and we've got a lot of areas to improve on, we've still got a lot of good footy behind us and a lot of confidence going into the back part of the season.

"Hawthorn will be very challenging. They are probably the best forward line in the competition, or up there with Brisbane and Geelong and a couple of others. It's these sorts of games you've got to win. Last night was an example of that finals footy and you want to be playing well in those games and we didn't last night. It's going to be tough but I couldn't think of a better way to come back after Collingwood.

"I think it's good preparation for the finals. There's no point winning the easier sort of games if you can't win the tough, congested, finals-type games of football. It was a good opportunity for us last night and we threw it away, but we've got another one this weekend."

With AAP