Following the hearing, Hall accepted the seven-week ban as fair and again apologised for delivering the punch to Staker, attributing his mistake to a "mind snap".
"I think through frustration, a mind-snap, a bit of a lapse, something came out that looked really bad that I didn't intend in terms of the impact," Hall said.
"I think it happens, to everyone at stages of their lives; you do things which are out of character and you cannot explain. I certainly can't explain it.
"I just want to take this opportunity to once again apologise to Brent Staker for the incident.
"It's unacceptable and I will try and better myself so it doesn't happen again."
Sydney coach Paul Roos gave character evidence for Hall, pointing out that the forward had not missed a match through suspension during his time as coach of the Swans.
"I think Barry is shocked," Roos said. "He is very, very remorseful. I think you can tell when people genuinely feel they have done something wrong."
Counsel assisting the tribunal, Jeff Gleeson, commented that Hall had thrown a punch "that would make Rocky Balboa blush" but took into account Hall's guilty plea, his remorse, the fact that Staker had not suffered a more serious injury as well as Hall having made improvements on his undisciplined record from earlier in his career.
"I love the way Barry Hall plays football, but I feel gutted about this decision because what he did was thuggery, which the game should not tolerate," McHenry said.
"People don't understand that this kid could have been killed or put down for life and the game is very shallow if the AFL don't at least come out and run an inquiry to change the rules."
Hall later visits a psychologist hoping to find a solution to his "mind explosions".
"The most important thing for me now is to try and find out why it happened," Hall said.
"The situation I was in, there was no real reason to do it. That's probably the most worrying thing for me and the footy club. We've got to find out why it's happened."