SYDNEY Swans defender Heath Grundy will miss Saturday's qualifying final against Adelaide after failing in his appeal against his one-match suspension for striking Geelong's James Podsiadly.

Grundy was cited by the Match Review Panel for his elbow to Podsiadly's face in last week's loss to Geelong, but challenged the charge at the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday.

The Swans said the hit didn't have enough force to constitute a strike, and that the action was reckless, not intentional, but the tribunal rejected both arguments, ruling out the important defender from taking on Crows' key forwards Taylor Walker and Kurt Tippett.

"It's pretty disappointing," Grundy said as he left the left the hearing.

Grundy conceded he had made contact with Podsiadly, but said it was only in an attempt to get back to the mark.

During the week leading up to the game, Swans coaches had stressed to their players to get quickly on the mark when Podsiadly and fellow Cats forward Steve Johnson lined up for goal.

The Swans also suggested that Podsiadly's failure to remonstrate inferred the impact was minimal.

However, the jury, consisting of Emmett Dunne, Wayne Henwood and Wayne Schimmelbusch, took only minutes to find Grundy guilty.

There was little to lose for Grundy in appealing the ban, with the 26-year-old not risking an extra week if unsuccessful.