AFL 2022: Keep up to date with the latest injury, MRO and tribunal news after the final home and away round of 2022
Cam Rayner told the AFL tribunal it would have been impossible for him to change the tackle on Demon Ben Brown that left him with a one-match ban. Here’s the tribunal’s response.
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Brisbane young gun Cam Rayner will miss the Lions elimination final against Richmond after he failed to have a one-game ban for a heavy tackle on Melbourne’s Ben Brown overturned at the Tribunal.
Rayner was reported for the tackle on Brown in the first quarter of the Lions’ heavy loss to Melbourne last Friday.
In the first quarter, Rayner pinned Brown’s arms, swung him around and tackled him face first into the Gabba turf.
Brown had to leave the ground with a bleeding nose and bruised face but returned in the second quarter.
The Match Review Officer assessed Rayner’s rough conduct charge as careless contact, medium impact and high contact.
The former No.1 draft pick was offered a one-match ban, and the Lions challenged this verdict in a bid to have him available for the clash against the Tigers next week.
Rayner said it was the momentum generated by Brown trying to take him on that resulted in the Demons key forward hitting the ground face first.
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“I just held onto his arms to try and get the ball off him and we spun around and hit the ground together,” he said.
“I saw him coming towards me to try and take on the tackle and with the momentum I just grabbed his arms.”
Rayner said because of the difference in height between him (187cm) and Brown (200cm) it would have been “impossible” to stop the momentum and drop him in a different way.
He also said that he spoke to Brown post game, who said how difficult it was to control the momentum the two had generated.
“I did my hardest to try and make sure he would land on his right shoulder,” Rayner said.
“But it is very hard to control a bigger player coming with you at that force and place him down as safely as you can.
“I seriously believe I couldn’t have done anything more.
“I’m very lucky that he came away with no serious injury and was able to talk to me about it post game.”
Rayner also said if it took place anywhere else on the Gabba outside of the cricket pitch area, Brown wouldn’t have had the abrasions on his face post tackle.
Counsel for the AFL Andrew Woods said Rayner’s action was “an element of a sling tackle”.
“The AFL’s position is that it was rough conduct because it was unreasonable in the circumstances the way he did tackle,” Woods said.
“It was the action of Rayner that caused the spinning of Brown.”
Woods also argued that just because Brown avoided injury it should not mean that the tackle wasn’t deserving of medium impact classification.
Counsel for the Lions Adrian Anderson said it was not a dangerous tackle.
“Other than that it looked terrible with blood … it was not objectively a dangerous tackle that should result in lifting the impact from low to high in this case,” he said.
The tribunal considered whether it was rough conduct and whether the tackle was low or medium impact.
After a lengthy deliberation the Tribunal found it was medium impact and upheld the one-game ban.
Tribunal chair Jeffery Gleeson said the jury found that it was a dangerous tackle and Brown was in a vulnerable position.
The Tribunal considers that the tackle by player Rayner was a dangerous tackle,” he said.
“The tackle did not consist of one action as it was a rotation style tackle.
“The tackle was of an inherently dangerous kind despite the fact it was not a spear tackle and the player was not at least entirely lifted off the ground.
“We find that a full 360 rotation tackle, forcefully applied and with a players’ arms pinned is inherently dangerous.”
Gleeson said the Tribunal found while Brown did contribute to the rotation between the two, most of it occurred as a “result of the matter of which Rayner applied the tackle” and the Lion could have released the Demons’ arms before he hit the ground.
“Given the force of the tackle there was potential to cause injury such as a broken nose or concussion,” Gleeson said.
Lynch learns injury fate as Dusty racing the clock
—Jon Ralph
Richmond could be able to select a side missing only co-captain Dylan Grimes after scans cleared Tom Lynch of a groin injury ahead of the knockout clash against Brisbane.
The Tigers said Lynch was a certain starter against Brisbane despite being subbed off after kicking five second-half goals against Essendon.
Lynch is in white-hot form but had admitted he was quite sore as the groin injury got progressively worse during the second half.
But Richmond fitness boss Peter Burge said on Monday of the scans: “His scans were good. He will be available to play in our first final with the extra week’s break”.
Martin got through a big Saturday fitness session as he progresses his rehab from a round 16 hamstring injury and Richmond expects him to play.
The Tigers players have several days off but will train again on Wednesday, with Martin having to progress into full training ahead of the Thursday week Gabba clash.
The Thursday clash means Martin and Lynch have less time than the Tigers would ideally have liked to recover, but as the seventh seed Richmond had no say in the matter.
Grimes is unlikely to play again this year after hamstring tendon surgery, with Jack Graham also touch and go with a turf toe injury.
But Jack Ross returned to the side against Essendon and had 14 score involvements among his 21 possessions.
Richmond was handed another piece of good news on Monday when Brisbane defender Noah Answerth accepted a one-week ban for his hit on Alex Neal-Bullen.
Answerth would have taken a dangerous small forward like Maurice Rioli, Shai Bolton or Dustin Martin but instead of playing his 50th game he will be sidelined.
The Lions will have to wait until Tuesday night to challenge Cam Rayner’s one-week ban for a dangerous tackle on Melbourne’s Ben Brown.
Guthrie injury sends shockwave through Geelong camp
Geelong is confident important midfielder Cam Guthrie has escaped a serious shoulder injury after he was the latest Cat to go down in a dead-rubber round 23 game against West Coast.
Guthrie instantly felt for his right shoulder after colliding with teammate Patrick Dangerfield at a centre bounce in the second term.
He came from the field and went straight up the race and didn’t not return to the bench after halftime.
But the Cats said they were only taking a precautionary approach to his shoulder and were confident there was he had not picked up an injury as the club gears up for a premiership run.
Guthrie was keeping warm in the Geelong rooms during the second half in case he was needed to return to the field.
Meanwhile, defender Jake Kolodjashnij will not miss his side’s qualifying final even if it is fixtured for Thursday night after he was concussed against West Coast.
The dependable Cat fell on his head while going back with the flight in the first quarter and came to the bench holding his head.
Under the AFL’s mandatory 12-day concussion period, he would be eligible to play on Thursday week as the guidelines state the earliest a player can play is on the 12th day after the day he was concussed.
Kolodjashnij would still have to safely navigate the concussion protocols.
It was the second time Kolodjashnij has been subbed out due to concussion this year, having suffered a head knock against North Melbourne in round 16.
He returned in round 18.
Dees sweat on key forward’s long-awaited return
Melbourne premiership forward Tom McDonald will kickstart his bid to play a role in the club’s AFL finals campaign by playing “significant” minutes in the VFL next weekend.
McDonald hasn’t played since suffering a low-grade Lisfranc injury in Round 10, which saw him as a late withdrawal from the Sydney game the next week due to ankle soreness.
Demons general manager of AFL football performance Alam Richardson told SEN on Saturday he is “hopeful” on a McDonald return to play in the finals.
“Based on the way he is tracking, he will play (in the VFL) next week. We are hopeful given the training he is doing,” Richardson said.
“We would be looking at him playing significant minutes next week (in the VFL).”
Richardson said the hitout in the VFL next week would give McDonald the match grounding he needed after being sidelined for 13 rounds.
He said the 29-year-old won’t be rushed back in the AFL system until he is ready, given the Demons forward line has been functioning better in the past couple of weeks.
“Tom McDonald at his best makes us a better team,” he said. “We love what Tom brings, we know he makes us better, so we will see how that one plays out.”
Melbourne is back in the premiership race following a 58-point win over contenders Brisbane at the Gabba on Friday night but did not escape without injury.
Joining the list of injured players, star ruck-forward Luke Jackson was subbed in the final quarter, having suffered a corked calf.
But Richardson is confident he will be right for the first week of the finals.
“Given it is two weeks we are really comfortable that he will be right. Given the nature of the scoreboard we were in a pretty good position, it just made a bit of sense,” Richardson said.
“We know what the rule is there for, but this was one where there was a bit of a chance he could do a significant injury and mean he does miss a potential final, so we didn’t want that to happen.”
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Originally published as AFL 2022: Keep up to date with the latest injury, MRO and tribunal news after the final home and away round of 2022
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