The AFL world is up in arms after Jeremy Cameron was hospitalised following an act of pleasant fireplace courtesy of teammate Gary Rohan.
After a sickening blow that noticed Rohan gather Cameron’s head whereas neither participant have been taking a look at one another, Cameron lay immobile on the Kardinia Park turf for a second earlier than being stretchered off.
While the soccer world’s ideas have been for Cameron’s security, some commentators seen that it highlighted an inconsistency in how opponent hits are adjudicated by the Match Review Panel and Tribunal.
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Veteran 3AW commentator Tim Lane stated it gave pause for thought when it got here to Tribunal issues, and should function proof in favour of gamers going through the Tribunal over unintended hits on opposition gamers.
“If so called ‘friendly fire’ isn’t made punishable, it must now provide overwhelming evidence for the defence at some tribunal cases,” Lane stated
Former St Kilda coach Grant Thomas has additionally been vocal on the matter, with the hit nearly definitely attracting sanction if Rohan had been carrying Melbourne’s purple and navy blue as an alternative.
“So concussion is OK if it’s on the same team and an accident, but if it’s an accident and you have different colours on your jumper, it’s automatically a suspension? Ohh I see that makes sense – not,” Thomas wrote sarcastically.
While Lane and Thomas are seemingly not arguing for Rohan himself to be suspended, their remarks spotlight the AFL’s obvious outcome-over-intent method in the case of prosecuting illegal contact.
With a number of incidents this season having sanctions decided to a major extent by the end result quite than the intent of the offending participant, the AFL has come underneath fireplace this season for his or her method to participant safety – criticised for not giving gamers and followers readability or consistency as to what’s allowed in touch.
Thomas went on to say that he thought concussion was okay within the recreation, so long as it remained unintended and gamers took acceptable precautions.
“Accidental concussion is OK,” he stated.
“It’s just a part of the game. Take precaution, protect yourself, be alert and aware but it’s part and parcel of the game. Take that danger away and you haven’t got the same game.”
Former Richmond talisman and Seven commentator Matthew Richardson additionally weighed in, sardonically tweeting “accidental collision does occur in this game”.
AFL umpiring Twitter account @hasumpstuffedup stated Rohan would “undoubtedly” have been suspended if he was an opposition participant, pointing to the truth that a component of tough conduct is that it’s in opposition to an opposition participant.
The AFL have made a concerted effort this season to crack down on headhigh contact in a bid to enhance the protection of the sport amid a flurry of concussion-related lawsuits from former gamers.
It has resulted in a number of controversial rulings made on the Tribunal and upheld by the Appeal Board, with some hits that may beforehand have been fully authorized now thought-about careless or reckless sufficient to warrant sanction.
Shane McAdam was rubbed out for 3 weeks earlier this season for a bump to the chest of the Giants’ Jacob Wehr, whereas Hawthorn’s James Sicily is at the moment serving three weeks for a deal with on Brisbane’s Hugh McCluggage that was awarded a free kick for holding the ball.
AFL CEO Andrew Dillon not too long ago stated he wouldn’t apologise for the league’s crackdown on excessive or extreme contact, and insisted there was no confusion across the deal with.
“I don’t really see there being confusion,” Dillon instructed reporters.
“At the moment the penalties or the sanctions are in the right spot.
“What I will say about the dangerous tackles, MRO (match review officer) and our tribunal system, it‘s all about protecting the health and safety of our players.
“And the AFL, we won‘t apologise for that.
“We have had close to 14,000 tackles this year and what we‘re looking at, at an MRO, tribunal perspective is slightly under 30 tackles that have been looked at.
“Any time there is avoidable head contact, we want to try and take that out of the game, so we will continue to do that.”
Dillon stated the foundations round harmful tackles have been clear – requested by Nine’s Corey Norris about whether or not he thought James Sicily’s deal with on McCluggage was harmful, he was steadfast.
“I think what constitutes a dangerous tackle is when arms are pinned or when there‘s excessive force,” he stated.
“But Sicily didn’t pin the arms,” got here the response from Norris.
“I’ll leave it at that,” Dillon merely responded.
Source: www.news.com.au
