Daniel Howe can only play another AFL game this season if Hawthorn make the finals.
The AFL tribunal has banned him for three games for a tripping incident that left Carlton's Zac Fisher with a broken leg.
Coupled with his two-game ban for striking Blues opponent Patrick Cripps, Howe will miss the last five games of the regular season.
The Hawks are eighth, but are only .8 per cent ahead of ninth-placed Geelong and have not won successive games since round 14.
"I'm disappointed with the outcome, but I've got a good training block ahead of me and hopefully the boys can play finals and I can take part in that," Howe said.
"Obviously I have to rein it in.
"I don't want to be missing weeks and games of footy - it's best to be on the field."
Howe was referred directly to the tribunal, with no option of an early plea, with he trip graded as severe.
Fisher's season is over because of the fibula fracture in his lower left leg.
Howe pleaded guilty and his advocate Peter O'Farrell unsuccessfully tried to argue the impact was medium or high, not severe.
Tribunal advocate Jeff Gleeson said the incident was clearly severe and after deliberating for 20 minutes, the three-man jury agreed with his assessment.
"I'm not saying there was malice, but there was force," Gleeson said of Howe's swinging leg.
Howe's advocate Peter O'Farrell was pulled up by tribunal chairman Ross Howie for trying to discuss the potential penalty, before the jury had decided on whether the impact was severe.
Once the jury ruled that the severe grading should stand, Howe was destined for a heavy penalty.
O'Farrell unsuccessfully argued that it should only be two matches.
On Monday, the Hawks accepted Howe's two-match ban for striking Cripps.
Also on Tuesday night, Brisbane utility Tom Cutler unsuccessfully challenged his rough conduct charge for a clumsy spoiling attempt that concussed Adelaide's Lachlan Murphy.
The tribunal jury only took a couple of minutes to find him guilty and Cutler will serve a two-game suspension.
