HAWTHORN defender Brian Lake will miss the next four matches after being suspended at the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday night.

Lake was found guilty of misconduct in the incident involving North Melbourne forward Drew Petrie during the third quarter of Friday night’s loss.

He will miss matches against Adelaide, Sydney Swans, Western Bulldogs and Melbourne in the next five weeks, with the Hawks’ scheduled bye the weekend after Friday night’s clash with the Crows.

The jury of David Neitz, Richard Loveridge and Wayne Schimmelbusch deemed his offence to be worth 410 points, inclusive of a 10 per cent loading for his bad record after receiving a three-match ban in the last three years.

He also had 37.5 carry-over points.

The defender pleaded not guilty to the charge of applying pressure with his hands to the throat of Petrie, giving evidence that Petrie initiated a wrestle by making contact with his face.

He did, however, plead guilty to the lesser charge of "aggressive wrestling".

Lake gave evidence that he was not making contact to Petrie’s throat but rather attempting to grab hold of his opponent’s jumper after Petrie had his hands near his eyes.

The premiership defender was cited by the Match Review Panel on Monday but referred straight to the Tribunal.