Carlton midfielder Adam Cerra has been sent directly to the tribunal by the AFL’s match review officer and faces a hefty fine, or even a ban, under the league’s new crackdown on umpire contact.

Cerra was charged with careless contact with an umpire, his fourth incident with a match official in two years.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Adam Cerra facing ban for umpire contact.

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In a statement issued on Friday night, the Blues confirmed the AFL’s decision.

“Carlton midfielder Adam Cerra has been charged with careless contact with an umpire by the match review officer,” the club wrote.

“The incident occurred late in the second quarter of Thursday night’s game against Brisbane.

“The MRO has referred the matter to the tribunal. Timings for the tribunal hearing will be confirmed early next week.”

7NEWS chief AFL reporter Mitch Cleary first raised the alarm about Cerra on Thursday night during the Blues’ loss to the Brisbane Lions at Marvel Stadium.

Cerra was tagging Brisbane superstar Lachie Neale, but backed away from the Brownlow medallist and then back into the umpire who ended up on the turf.

“I think that will be looked at,” Cleary said during Channel 7’s post-match coverage.

“He’s on the precipice ... if it’s four (incidents) inside two years they can pull the trigger and send him to the tribunal, he’s had three in two years.

“So if that is deemed a careless act ... he’ll be off to the tribunal.”

Umpire contact has become a hot topic in the AFL over the past few weeks.

And on three occasions in the game last night a player collided with a whistleblower.

AFL great Luke Hodge wondered if there were too many umpires on the ground.

“They brought in (four) to make sure all the decisions were correct ... that hasn’t worked,” Hodge said on Channel 7.

“All it’s done is put more umpires in the road.”

The Cerra incident is the first time a player has breached the new rule and it seems the most likely outcome is that he will be fined.

But Carlton could also cop a $5000 sanction.

After the match, Carlton coach Michael Voss wanted AFL umpires to call ball-ups if they interfered with play.

On one occasion on Thursday, the Blues conceded a goal in comical fashion when Lachie Cowan clashed with umpire Andrew Heffernan.

A Nick Haynes kick fell in Lions star Cam Rayner’s lap when target Cowan was taken out, and Rayner set up a Charlie Cameron major.

That incident came less than one week after Essendon’s Nate Caddy was involved in a similar collision with umpire Robert O’Gorman.

Caddy was cleared of wrongdoing over his accidental contact despite the league’s recent crackdown.

“If you’re interrupting the passage of play, I would’ve thought it’s common sense to make that a ball-up,” Voss said of the Cowan incident.

“It didn’t cost the game, so we move on.

“But if there’s an adjustment that I’d be suggesting, I’d say that if you’re a genuine interference in the play, in the direct line of the ball, then I would’ve thought the common sense thing to do is to ball that up.”

As for the Cerra contact, Voss said he had not spoken to the player “specifically” but “we’ve addressed that as a football club”.

“The correspondence has been pretty clear coming out of the AFL, so obviously the first thing we do is make sure we have that covered off,” he said.

“It’s been something that we’ve all been really mindful of in the industry.

“Unfortunately the mids are the ones that are probably going to be copping the brunt of it, so we just have to be cautious there.”

Voss expects there will still be errors by players and umpires, but isn’t specifically concerned about the whistleblowers’ positioning on the field.

Essendon counterpart Brad Scott had a far stronger view, saying last week he had repeatedly implored the league to move umpires out of the corridor.

“When you watch the four umpires, there is a way they move around the ground, so we back in that that’s coached and it’s coached really well,” Voss said.

“We appreciate also that it’s an evasive game and the ball’s quite dynamic and it shifts off the line in a split second.

“We don’t get it perfect and I suspect they’re not going to either.”

- With AAP