Brownlow Medal 2022: Gillon McLachlan says AFL will review contentious bump rule after Patrick Cripps’ overturned ban
Gillon McLachlan has made clear that Patrick Cripps was a deserving winner, but his scathing criticism remained for the appeals board that overturned his suspension.
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AFL boss Gillon McLachlan says the league will still review the contentious bump rule that saw Brownlow medallist Patrick Cripps cleared but has not backed away from his scathing criticism of the appeals board.
McLachlan made clear on Monday he believed Cripps was a worthy winner but said his thoughts on the appeals board decision was a separate issue.
“I am not sure I can remember a more worthy and popular winner than Patrick Cripps,” McLachlan said.
“Not one part of that diminishes his win last night. He is tough, he is brave. Look at that game in round 23 against Collingwood.
“I haven’t seen a player want to get the ball more. He is an incredible, worthy Brownlow Medal winner.
“Anything related to the appeals process is separate. You know what I thought of the decision. I thought it was confusing at best.
“It is a comment on the appeals board’s decision and that decision has nothing to do with Patrick Cripps.
“He is entirely eligible, he was cleared and he’s a fabulous footballer, person and worthy brownlow medallist.”
McLachlan also confirmed the AFL’s football department was reviewing potential changes to the bump rule that could introduced an even stricter liability for players.
His comments came hours after Cripps refused to bite back at McLachlan’s disappointment about the Carlton star dodging suspension late in the season.
Cripps said he had “moved on” from the controversial appeals board decision that overturned his two-match ban for a bump on Brisbane’s Callum Ah Chee.
The 27-year-old midfielder would have been ineligible to win the Brownlow Medal if the suspension stood and would never have played in round 23, when he polled maximum votes to leapfrog 2020 winner Lachie Neale.
Asked directly about McLachlan saying the decision was “a complete nonsense” and that he was “very agitated”, Cripps quipped: “He called my name for the last three votes, so I’ll just leave it at that.”
The outgoing CEO’s comments were published in this week’s AFL Record and made before Sunday night’s Brownlow function.
So instead of joining Corey McKernan and Chris Grant as ineligible ‘winners’, congratulatory messages flowed in from the likes of past medallists Neale, Chris Judd and Ben Cousins.
The Judd and Cousins texts remained unopened at the time Cripps completed the last of his media engagements at Southbank but he revelled in the videos from family and friends celebrating.
“I’ve always been big on my family – they’re sort of the backbone,” said Cripps, who pulled an all-nighter.
“It meant a lot to me, but (it also shows) how much it means to people around you.
“It’s always the support network that makes you play at the highest level, so it was great to share with them ... they enjoyed the night as much as I did, I reckon.”
Among Cripps’ revelations in a heartfelt acceptance speech was his previous anxiety with media duties and how he would lobby his parents to let him out of boarding school to watch the Brownlow Medal each year.
“I reckon a lot of people get a bit nervous in public speaking, to be honest – it doesn’t come naturally to many people,” he said.
“But I just did a lot of work with the club psych, the media manager and (ex-teammate) Michael Jamison ... it’s like anything in life, if you’re struggling with something or you want to get better, you’ve just got to put in the work.
“Hopefully, young guys and girls who come into the AFL system now can take a bit of confidence from that, knowing they can chip away at it and speak fine.”
Cripps still craves team success, which he had a taste of this year before the Blues stumbled in sight of qualifying for finals, but wasn’t interested in slamming critics who believed his best football was behind him.
Two below-par seasons, at least by his lofty standards, preceded his Brownlow campaign but he returned to his best in emphatic fashion from round 1 this year.
“It’s a bit of reward for effort. I knew I had a lot of self-belief and I probably wasn’t proving people wrong – it was probably proving myself right again,” Cripps said.
“It was getting back to the way I was playing in 2018 and 2019. I worked really hard last off-season to give myself the best chance to have a really good pre-season and carry that momentum into the season.
“It’s nice to play good footy and it was even better, especially early in the year, to play in some wins, which since I’ve been at the club, we haven’t had that real momentum and suddenly I feel like we’re really building now.”
Cripps’ ice cold response to Gill’s tribunal crack
Newly crowned Brownlow medallist Patrick Cripps has refused to bite back at AFL chief Gillon McLachlan’s disappointment about the Carlton star dodging suspension late in the season.
Cripps said on Monday he had “moved on” from the controversial Appeals Board decision that overturned his two-match ban for a bump on Brisbane’s Callum Ah Chee.
The 27-year-old midfielder would have been ineligible to win the Brownlow Medal if the suspension stood and would never have played in round 23, when he polled maximum votes to leapfrog 2020 winner Lachie Neale.
Asked directly about McLachlan saying the decision was “a complete nonsense” and that he was “very agitated”, Cripps quipped: “He called my name for the last three votes, so I’ll just leave it at that.”
The outgoing CEO’s comments were published in this week’s AFL Record and made before Sunday night’s Brownlow function.
“People are aware I was very agitated by that (Appeals Board) decision,” McLachlan said.
“It made no sense to me in any way and it is frustrating to have a legal view about due process or procedural fairness - a complete nonsense - really affect a clear mandate to protect the head.
“We confused our supporters and set ourselves back and that really frustrates me.
“When you can have something that is so important, which is protecting the head, and a clear statement from the MRO and backed up by the Tribunal, and then the player getting off because of a legal technicality and nobody really understanding what the hell happened, I find that challenging.
“So, I have asked the guys to review the system and we will see where that lands.”
A “failure to afford procedural fairness” by the Tribunal when hitting Cripps with a two-game suspension was key to the Appeals Board’s decision.
So instead of joining Corey McKernan and Chris Grant as ineligible ‘winners’, congratulatory messages flowed in from the likes of past medallists Neale, Chris Judd and Ben Cousins.
The Judd and Cousins texts remained unopened at the time Cripps completed the last of his media engagements at Southbank but he revelled in the videos from family and friends celebrating.
“I’ve always been big on my family – they’re sort of the backbone,” said Cripps, who pulled an all-nighter.
“It meant a lot to me, but (it also shows) how much it means to people around you.
“It’s always the support network that makes you play at the highest level, so it was great to share with them ... they enjoyed the night as much as I did, I reckon.”
Among Cripps’ revelations in a heartfelt acceptance speech was his previous anxiety with media duties and how he would lobby his parents to let him out of boarding school to watch the Brownlow Medal each year.
“I reckon a lot of people get a bit nervous in public speaking, to be honest – it doesn’t come naturally to many people,” he said.
“But I just did a lot of work with the club psych, the media manager and (ex-teammate) Michael Jamison ... it’s like anything in life, if you’re struggling with something or you want to get better, you’ve just got to put in the work.
“Hopefully, young guys and girls who come into the AFL system now can take a bit of confidence from that, knowing they can chip away at it and speak fine.”
Cripps still craves team success, which he had a taste of this year before the Blues stumbled in sight of qualifying for finals, but wasn’t interested in slamming critics who believed his best football was behind him.
Two below-par seasons, at least by his lofty standards, preceded his Brownlow campaign but he returned to his best in emphatic fashion from round 1 this year.
“It’s a bit of reward for effort. I knew I had a lot of self-belief and I probably wasn’t proving people wrong – it was probably proving myself right again,” Cripps said.
“It was getting back to the way I was playing in 2018 and 2019. I worked really hard last off-season to give myself the best chance to have a really good pre-season and carry that momentum into the season.
“It’s nice to play good footy and it was even better, especially early in the year, to play in some wins, which since I’ve been at the club, we haven’t had that real momentum and suddenly I feel like we’re really building now.”
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Originally published as Brownlow Medal 2022: Gillon McLachlan says AFL will review contentious bump rule after Patrick Cripps’ overturned ban
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