Tristan Xerri sent to tribunal, tipped for lengthy ban after 'ugly' blood wiping incident

North Melbourne ruckman Tristan Xerri has been sent to straight to the AFL tribunal and is tipped to face a lengthy ban after an "ugly" incident that saw him wipe blood on an opponent's face.

Xerri gave away back to back 50m penalties and copped a bump to his nose from an Essendon player while arguing with the umpire.

He needed a moment to compose himself while the ball quickly made its way down to the other side of the ground, but the Bombers turned it over almost as quickly as it came down there and Xerri found himself in possession again.

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The ruckman kicked the goal before taking the fight to rival captain Andrew McGrath and other Essendon players.

In that scuffle, he appeared to wipe his bleeding nose and then make contact with the face of the Dons skipper.

He will now face the tribunal on Monday or Tuesday to learn his fate for the ugly act.

"Oh no, don't do that. Don't do that, Tristan," Garry Lyon said on Fox Footy at the time.

"Maybe my eyes deceived me. I hope I didn't see what I thought I saw.

"It did appear that he was pointing to his nose and touching it with his fingers and he might have put it on McGrath. That's what you don't want to see in the game."

According to The Age, the incident does not fall in a category that can be directly graded by the MRO, meaning it would automatically be a case for the tribunal.

Damian Barrett admitted he feels the act deserves at least a two-game ban.

"It's an ugly look on a footy field," Barrett said on Nine's Sunday Footy Show.

"I know and understand that heightened tensions can take hold of people sometimes deal with situations differently, but this will fall into the misconduct category.

"It's minimum of two [weeks] in my eyes and could be more than that." 

Essendon great Matthew Lloyd conceded it could be an even longer penalty.

"I wouldn't be shocked if he got three or four," Lloyd said.

"He's made a massive mistake, but I'm sure he's a good person and he'll pay the price."

Back in 2002, Collingwood's Nathan Buckley was handed a one-game suspension for wiping blood from a head wound onto Geelong's Cameron Ling.

"That's a horrible look. He needs to cop a sanction. We can't have that. He'll most likely be missing some football," St Kilda champ Leigh Montagna said.

Social media wasn't kind to Xerri following the incident.

While the ruckman could be banned for multiple week, North Melbourne were at least able to celebrate their second win in three games to start the season.

They outclassed Essendon for the majority of the contest, with the difference between the two teams being their skills by foot around the ground and in front of goal.

For the Bombers, their losing streak dating back to May last year continues, heaping further pressure on coach Brad Scott.