Dogs skipper Marcus Bontempelli could be in scorching water with the Match Review Panel for his hit on Port Adelaide’s Dan Houston on Friday night time.
Midway via the second quarter with the Power main 37-29, Houston was fumbling over a floor ball on the prime of Port Adelaide’s defensive 50 when Bontempelli got here in from the aspect, gathering Houston excessive and sparking remonstrations from Houston’s Power teammates.
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On commentary, Seven’s Brian Taylor puzzled aloud whether or not there was any head-high contact concerned, with excessive contact being cause sufficient for Bontempelli to face the match evaluate panel.
“I wonder if there was any head-high contact in that,” Taylor stated.
“It was a solid hit … the tip of the shoulder looks like it might have got (Houston) on the head there.”
At halftime, Seven commentator Matthew Richardson stated that Bontempelli had clearly made efforts to keep away from hitting Houston.
“He puts up his hand almost to stop,” Richardson stated.
“I reckon initially he may have had a thought of coming in to tackle or bump, and clearly changed his mind at the last minute, and did well to avoid causing any damage, I thought.
“He was expecting Houston to come in and not fumble that and probably come in and tackle him or corral him.
“I think he did well in that situation.”
Three-time Hawthorn premiership captain Luke Hodge famous the Tribunal and Match Review Panel’s notably harsh method to excessive contact this yr.
“In saying that, we’ve been wrong a lot when it comes to the Tribunal this year,” Hodge joked.
Both gamers continued to play out the rest of the sport, and Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley stated after the sport that Houston had reported no well being points or concussion signs, and that gamers have been starting to regulate to the league’s shift in method to collisions.
“I think players, by the week, you can see the tackle attempts, you can see they are being more careful,” Hinkley stated.
“The game is always played quite ferocious and we don’t need to make too much of taking contact out of the game as these blokes just go crazy at each other, they are pretty brave in how they play.”
Speaking after the sport, Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge stated that gamers needed to take care of the problem of “variables” based mostly on the dimensions of their opponent, and that he hoped the league would look to punish the intent of gamers, quite than the present method of outcomes, which may see prices laid relying on whether or not gamers report concussion signs or not.
Beveridge used the instance of St Kilda’s Dan Butler, who’s presently going through a one-week suspension for his deal with on Sydney’s Nick Blakey on Thursday night time.
“Young Blakey hasn’t got the broadest of shoulders so if he [Butler] is tackling a ruckman then maybe his head doesn’t hit the ground,” Beveridge stated.
“So you can be a bit stiff depending on who you tackle as well, there are all those variables.
“I’m a big believer that when we look to evolve, that we really focus on intent to actually hurt a player.
“It should be the civil test, on the balance of probabilities, was it 51 per cent that he wasn’t trying to hurt him? Then that should be OK because there are accidents in sport.
“It’s a challenge in our game at the moment.
“A video package came out from the AFL around tackles and, ultimately, you choose whether you show the players because, they are just going to be unlucky if we keep going on the way we are.”
Source: www.news.com.au
