North Adelaide forward Alan Obst five matches away from life ban after latest suspension
NORTH Adelaide will tell forward Alan Obst to be more diligent when attacking contests after his latest suspension left him five games away from a life ban.
NORTH Adelaide will tell forward Alan Obst to be more diligent when attacking contests after his latest suspension left him five games away from a life ban.
The SANFL tribunal handed Obst a two-game suspension for forceful front-on contact on Tuesday night, taking his career tally to 11 matches.
Under football’s national deregistration policy, adopted by the SANFL in 2012, a player is suspended for life when his suspension record reaches 16 or more games.
Obst’s teammate Michael Clinch is the league’s closest player to the threshold with 12 games, while Eagles forward Adam Grocke has also been banned for 11 matches — seven of which came this year after his sickening collision with Central District’s Brad Symes.
Roosters football manager Darryl Wintle said some of the incidents Obst and Clinch had been suspended for were “split-decision outcomes”.
“They have to be more diligent in the way they attack a contest but you can’t have them running past the contests so they don’t get reported,” Wintle said.
“They’re not thug acts but unfortunately repeat offenders are going to get found out.”
Obst has twice been banned for one game and also had a three and four-match suspension.
His contact with Jake von Bertouch during North’s win over the Eagles on Saturday was deemed reckless, low impact and high.
It would not have earned him a suspension if he did not have a bad record and 83.1 points carried over from a previous offence.
Wintle said the club had begun contract discussions to re-sign Obst for next season.
The 27 year old, who battled a hamstring injury earlier this year, has booted 17 goals from 11 games since his off-season move from Central District.
“He plays an important role for us and we’ve been happy with what he’s produced this year on field (but) we’d like to keep him out there for 18 games,” Wintle said.