Smith, the equal league-leading scorer with 12 goals, headbutted Bailey after he was sent off for a second yellow card in the 67^th minute of Phoenix's upset 3-1 win at CB Complex in round 20 on Sunday.

Ladder leaders Edgeworth were 1-0 down against last-placed Phoenix at the time of the headbutt, which knocked Bailey to the ground but did not cause serious injury.

In previous years, Smith would have been handed a suspension by independent disciplinary chairperson Bill Moncrieff after he had read the referee's report. However, under a new system this season, Smith was given a three-game suspension based on the competition administrator's interpretation of the referee's report against a more specific scale of sanctions.

In the NNSW premier competitions regulations, section 37.4 outlines minimum mandatory suspensions. Smith's offence was deemed violent conduct in line with section three, which reads "serious and/or premeditated violent conduct towards an opponent or club associate". The minimum sanction is "auto +2", which means an additional two-game ban on top of Smith's automatic one-match penalty for the send-off.

Smith would have faced an extra week had the incident been deemed "serious violent conduct that has caused bodily harm or responsibility for a melee". It would have been two weeks more had it come under "violent conduct causing serious injury".

NNSW Football operations manager Liam Bentley said the penalty was confirmed after checking the referee's report.

"We went with three," Bentley said. "It didn't cause bodily harm. From what we hear and see, he got up and did not require treatment."

The penalty is lenient when compared to Roy O'Donovan's eight-match ban for headbutting Manny Muscat in 2016 while with the Central Coast Mariners. Locally, Lake Macquarie defender Danny Burt was given six games for stomping a player after being sent off for an elbow in the 2012 NNSW State League.

"This is the first year we've used this type of system," Bentley said.

"It's the system we used down in Victoria for a while.

"It obviously comes down to interpretation and what the referee writes. We don't go out there actively looking for footage. It's generally based on the referee's report. It gives people an idea of what they are up for."

He said the system had worked smoothly so far but clubs would have the chance to review it after the season.

"Suspensions in Northern are probably a bit more relaxed than some other states," he said. "I know when we looked at this as compared to Victoria, they have four, five, six, seven weeks for some of these things.

"But that's never really been like that up here - giving a six- or eight-week suspension for this type of thing, unless it's really necessary.

"As long as we are consistent within our own competition, that's what we want."

The ban means Smith will miss Edgeworth's last two matches of the regular season and their round of 16 FFA Cup clash, to be played between August 20-28.

The Eagles, shooting for a record 13^th top division premiership, lead on 35 points but they are not guaranteed to play top-four finals. They face second-placed Weston (34) and fifth-placed Lambton Jaffas (30) in the closing rounds. Jaffas, Maitland (33) and Charlestown (29) have two games in hand on Edgeworth, while Broadmeadow (32) have one.