Essendon could also be pressured to tackle AFL heavyweights Geelong with out their two greatest ruckmen as Andrew Phillips faces potential suspension over a excessive bump on Adelaide’s Reilly O’Brien.
Phillips will come underneath scrutiny after electing to bump O’Brien and catching his direct opponent excessive within the dying levels of the Bombers’ 18-point win on Sunday.
The end result arrange a monster fifth-versus-eighth conflict with the Cats at GMHBA Stadium subsequent spherical.
But a ban for Phillips, coupled with Sam Draper’s ongoing battle with a hip harm, might imply eight-game ruckman Nick Bryan is thrust into the Bombers’ ruck function.
Replays confirmed Phillips appeared to make contact along with his shoulder to O’Brien’s chin, although the Crows’ ruckman was not critically damage.
“We want our ruckmen to shepherd and I haven’t looked at in detail on whether he got him high or not but the impact didn’t look huge,” Bombers coach Brad Scott mentioned.
“We’ll let the MRO take care of that.”
On Sunday, GWS defender Nick Haynes was handed a one-match ban for a harmful sort out on Hawthorn’s Josh Ward.
Ward’s head appeared to bounce off the bottom after Haynes grabbed his left arm and dragged him all the way down to the turf.
The incident was assessed as careless conduct, medium influence and excessive contact, drawing a one-match suspension.
Unless Haynes efficiently challenges the ban, he’ll miss Saturday’s crunch conflict with Adelaide.
Port Adelaide’s Sam Powell-Pepper can escape with a $2000 high-quality for a forceful front-on contact cost.
Gold Coast’s Charlie Ballard was fined $3000 for tripping Port’s Zak Butters, whereas Melbourne’s James Jordon obtained a $1000 hit to the hip pocket for careless contact with an umpire.
Richmond ruckman Toby Nankervis is going through a ban of not less than three weeks after being despatched straight to the tribunal for his excessive bump on Sydney’s Jake Lloyd.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
