Essendon will be missing Nathan Lovett-Murray and Mark McVeigh from their 2010 AFL Season opener despite both successfully managing to downgrade their charges at the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday night.

McVeigh will the 2010 Round 1 match after pleading guilty to striking Adelaide’s Bernie Vince in last Friday night’s AFL Elimination Final, but the club argued that the contact was not high but was rather to the body.

The tribunal agreed with Essendon’s counsel and the downgraded penalty means he will only miss one match as opposed to the three he was risking if the bid failed.

Lovett-Murray also successfully had his rough conduct charge downgraded from intentional contact to reckless contact, reducing what would have been a three-week ban to two weeks. Lovett-Murray was charged with engaging in rough conduct with Vince.