St Kilda v Adelaide: David Mackay to face tribunal for high hit on Hunter Clark despite no charges laid
Former Adelaide captain Mark Bickley believes David Mackay should avoid suspension for his hit on Hunter Clark, but that a ban won’t “change the game forever”.
AFL News
Don't miss out on the headlines from AFL News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Adelaide premiership captain Mark Bickley believes David Mackay should escape suspension for colliding with Hunter Clark because he focused on the ball and got to it at the same time.
But Bickley does not think it will change the fabric of the game if the veteran Crow is banned or there are subtle rule tweaks to prevent more head injuries.
Mackay will face the AFL tribunal on Thursday after breaking the Saint’s jaw in a collision during the second quarter of the St Kilda-Adelaide clash in Cairns on Saturday night.
The AFL counsel planned to argue the 32-year-old Crow’s action was high contact, had caused severe impact and was “unreasonable in the circumstances” – even if he was contesting the ball, bumping Clark or both.
Stream selected Fox Footy shows on Kayo Freebies completely free this June including AFL 360, On The Couch, Bounce & more. No Credit Card. No Brainer. Register Free Now
Bickley, who played 272 games for Adelaide from 1991-2003, said Mackay’s objective was winning the footy – at a time the Crows were down 36-0 – and he should not be penalised because he and Clark got there simultaneously.
“This one here is ‘I think I can get there first, I’m going really hard at it because my team needs me, I’m making the ball my imperative’,” Bickley told The Advertiser.
“He did get there at the ball at the same time and I think that’s the disclaimer on this one that enables him to continue to play.
“If the football is your imperative and you get there first or at the same time as your opponent, I think there should be an element of protection that should be afforded to you (under the rules) in terms of what happens next.”
Crows champion and club football director Mark Ricciuto said on Triple M on Tuesday that the game would be changed forever if Mackay was suspended.
But Bickley disagreed and said small rule changes should be explored “so that we don’t have players ending careers prematurely with concussions”.
Clark underwent surgery after having multiple fractures in his jaw and was expected to be sidelined for between six and eight weeks.
“As (West Coast coach) Adam Simpson said, there might be some ambiguity right now about the rules, but there won’t be going forward – this is headed one way in terms of protecting the head and I’m not totally against it,” he said.
“This one (Mackay) he should be protected but if they went down the path of ‘we don’t want blokes running flat out and using their shoulder as a battering ram’ – like a running bump – I wouldn’t lose much sleep over it and I don’t think we’d notice it the next week.
“I’m not as dramatic as some on the changing of the fabric of the game because this doesn’t happen every week, it happens once in a blue moon.
“We’ve had 13 rounds, maybe 108 games … and contested possession is normally about 150 each side, so 300, that’s 30,000 contests and we’re arguing about one saying ‘it’s going to change the game’, I’m not convinced.”
Bickley said other rule changes over the past two decades, such as creating the ruck circle and awarding a free kick for contact below the knees, had made the game safer.
But he believed it was as tough as ever to play.
“I challenge anyone who calls the game soft to actually go to a game, sit down near the fence and see the speed these guys are moving at and tell me that ‘it’s soft’ – I just don’t buy it,” he said.
RIEWOLDT: BAN WOULD CAUSE CONFUSION FOR PLAYERS
Richmond triple premiership star Jack Riewoldt believes a lengthy suspension for Crow David Mackay at the tribunal would put “confusion and hesitation” into the minds of players.
Adelaide will seek to argue Mackay’s contact with St Kilda’s Hunter Clark is reasonable in the circumstances as the veteran tries to avoid a long ban for breaking the Saint’s jaw.
The AFL will be seeking a minimum three-game suspension on the basis there was high contact and severe impact.
Clark has multiple fractures in his jaw and is expected to miss between six and eight weeks, but Riewoldt believed Mackay should not be punished.
“I sort of go with my gut feel and I think he made a play on the ball,” Riewoldt said on Fox Footy’s AFL360.
“I’ve been strong on protecting the head, but there are accidents in football and there are football actions.
“And I think the fact David Mackay made a play on the ball with a technique that is widely coached around the AFL in stepping over the ball and protecting yourself sort of leads him to not getting a suspension.
“I actually don’t mind the idea of taking it to the tribunal because it sort of sets the scene a little bit and we’ll know, but for mine (he should get) off.”
When asked if it would trouble him if Mackay received a lengthy holiday, Riewoldt said: “I think it would add hesitation and confusion into the current day player’s head in terms of how to pick the ball up.
“Because if he leads with his own head there he’s obviously putting himself in a position to seriously damage his head and his neck, and he stepped over the ball like we’ve always been taught to do.
“And it’s not a step over the ball and not making a play at the ball, he’s actually stuck his hands out and got his hands on the ball.
“I think it would certainly add a sense of confusion if it went that way.”
The Tigers’ spearhead said he sympathised for Clark, but he could not find fault in Mackay’s actions.
“The premise of the game is to go and get the ball,” he said.
“I feel for Hunter Clark and a broken jaw is obviously a horrific outcome, but it’s also the fact you’ve got to make a play on the ball and you’ve got to put your body on the line at certain times.
“But I think David Mackay has made a play on the ball here.”
RICCIUTO: THE GAME WILL CHANGE FOREVER
Adelaide football director Mark Ricciuto says football will be changed forever if Crows veteran David Mackay is suspended for his collision with St Kilda’s Hunter Clark.
Mackay will face the AFL tribunal on Thursday night and the league is seeking a minimum of a three-game ban for carelessly engaging in rough conduct.
The AFL counsel planned to argue the 32-year-old’s action in Cairns on Saturday night was high contact, had caused severe impact and was “unreasonable in the circumstances” – even if he was contesting the ball, bumping Clark or both.
Clark underwent surgery after having multiple fractures in his jaw and was expected to miss between six and eight weeks.
Ricciuto, a former Crows captain who played 312 games for the club, said Mackay simply went hard at the ball, “exactly the way you’re coached to play the game”.
“The footage that they (Fox Footy show On the Couch) slowed down brilliantly shows that within a metre of the ball Hunter Clark’s hands were probably six, eight inches away, and Mackay’s were probably 18 inches away,” Ricciuto said on Triple M on Tuesday morning.
“They were both going for the ball – definitely going for the ball.
“If he gets done, this is going to change the game forever – it’ll be another change to the game.”
The incident happened when Adelaide was down 5.6 to no score.
Crows coach Matthew Nicks said it helped spark his side, which came back to win by six points.
Ricciuto agreed it was a “fierce 50-50 contest in a crucial part of the game when the Crows were charging at St Kilda and needed to win every 50-50 contest they could”.
THE REASON AFL STEPPED IN OVER MACKAY BUMP
In a sensational development after David Mackay’s collision with St Kilda’s Hunter Clark on Saturday night, the league has effectively gone against its own judgments this year to ask the tribunal to set a precedent.
The AFL will ask the tribunal to hear the case, having not attached a potential suspension to the incident.
It is the first time in the Christian era that dates back nearly a decade that a men’s case has been sent to the tribunal without a charge.
Mackay’s hit broke the jaw of the St Kilda midfielder and will sideline him for 6-8 weeks.
Under guidelines which have seen Jaeger O’Meara and Gold Coast’s Jarrod Harbrow dodging suspension this year, a player with his hands on the ball in a contest is seen to have had no alternative to win the ball.
But given the determination to protect the heads of players, the league has effectively altered that precedent mid-year.
It is known that AFL football operations manager Steve Hocking has taken an increasingly hard stance, with the AFL official rubberstamping all Christian decisions.
Under the old precedent, only if a player was found guilty of a reportable act was the damage to an opponent relevant.
Now, if Mackay is suspended by the tribunal a player is effectively responsible for all contact even in a situation where they contest the ball.
The league already has that hard-line stance when players choose to bump, but players are allowed to contest the ball and not be responsible for that contact.
It is believed the AFL was worried by the look of Mackay running 15m and accelerating into the contest and showing a lack of duty of care to Clark.
It is known the AFL has become increasingly concerned about the kind of incidents that saw Clark suffer that broken jaw.
St Kilda star Leigh Montagna said on Fox Footy the tribunal decision could cause seismic changes to the game.
“This is pretty important for me. It changes the fabric of the game. If a player now in the 50-50 situation having a fair attack at the football has to decide prior to that he might cause an injury it’s too big an ask for a player on the football field to decide it. I believe it’s a pretty significant moment but it’s in the hands of three panel members of the tribunal, not the AFL itself. I find that quite staggering.
“If you look at that incident, it was two players fairly contesting the ball. There is no reportable offence. At the last second he turns to protect himself and he has a duty of care to protect himself.”
But former North Melbourne star David King said the league had a duty of care to protect players.
“The significant contact is highly likely when (Mackay) is coming in (full) speed like that. I think we need to coach that out of players, suspend that out of the game. I am comfortable with this being three or four weeks. We have got to change behaviour. If the head of football (Steve Hocking) doesn’t know if that’s a reportable offence, what are we doing, how are players supposed to know?”
Meanwhile, Adelaide’s Taylor Walker is likely to be fined for the elbow to the head of St Kilda’s Cal Wilkie in a marking contest on Saturday night.
While it could easily have been judged an intentional act, he is likely to be fined rather than suspended because Wilkie immediately got up and took his kick.
The MRO can elevate the incident from a misconduct fine to a low-level charge but would be unlikely to assess it as medium impact (and a suspension).
Similarly, Gold Coast’s Ben King is likely to be fined rather than suspended for his elbow to the head of Fremantle’s Luke Ryan in a similar marking contest to the Walker incident.
MATCH REPORT: THILTHORPE DOWNS SAINTS AT DEATH
– Simeon Thomas-Wilson, Rowan Sparkes
Riley Thilthorpe got the glory for his brilliant over-the-head goal that stole an incredible win for Adelaide over St Kilda.
The No. 2 draft pick finished the game with three goals and 16 disposals.
But it was his instinctive moment of brilliance to win the game that will live long in the memory for a player that should surely get a Rising Star nomination now after coming extremely close after kicking five goals on debut.
With just over a minute to go, Thilthorpe got the rebound after Paddy Ryder’s clearing kick was smothered and, in a testament to his footy IQ, he quickly went over his head on his left foot to slot the all-important goal.
Making the kick even more special for the boyhood Crows fan was that moments earlier he completely missed a set shot with a drop punt that sailed wide.
A goal would have put Adelaide in front, while a behind would have at least levelled the scores – yet, he did neither.
He told The Advertiser he was originally going to go with a snap shot on that occasion.
“I’m still pretty rattled to be honest. A rollercoaster of emotions in those last minutes,” he said.
“I was obviously pretty flat about missing that set shot so I thought I need to make it up here and the ball bounced to me luckily, and I knew I didn’t have much time so I just chucked it over my head and it happened.
“I won’t be replicating that too much that’s for sure.
“I was originally going to go with the snap, but then I talked myself out of it which hurt me in the end.
“I should have stuck to what I originally thought, I know what I want to do so I just need to execute it.”
Nicks said the great thing about Thilthorpe was that the No. 2 pick still had significant improvement in him.
“When it comes to his preparation he is one of the best and always trying to get better,” he said.
“Even tonight I thought he had a great battle with (Dougal) Howard for most of the night.
“There is a reason why he was drafted so early we are lucky to have him in our group and he is going to keep getting better.
“That’s the part we love about Riley, he knows he has so much more improvement in him and that is even more exciting than what he did tonight.”
WHY MACKAY IS THE GREAT SURVIVOR
For whatever reason, David Mackay doesn’t get the credit he perhaps deserves from Crows fans at times.
He’s now in the top 10 when it comes to games-played for Adelaide, yet there are those who desperately want some youngsters to play instead of the 32-year-old.
But as the rest of the Crows side were beaten up by the Saints, not scoring at all in a first quarter for the fifth time in the club’s history and inching close to becoming the first side since Fitzroy in 1995 to not score in a first half of footy, Mackay showed why he is the great survivor of West Lakes.
St Kilda running defender Hunter Clark would have backed himself to win the ball when he hunted after it in the second quarter.
But Mackay came through the young Saint like a steam train, showing desire and a toughness few other Crows had shown up until that point.
Clark’s broken jaw from the massive hit means Mackay is at risk of copping a ban for the bump.
However, Hawthorn and Western Bulldogs greats Jordan Lewis and Brad Johnson said on Fox Footy the Crows veteran didn’t have a case to answer, with vision showing he got hands to the ball before his shoulder connected with Clark’s face.
But despite any forthcoming sanction, Nicks said it was a moment that changed the match for the Crows.
“We don’t want to see anyone get injured like we did in that moment,” Nicks said.
“But my initial thought, and I’ve only seen it live, but I thought it was a genuine contest.
“But I thought both players were going for the ball and I thought Dmac got hands on the ball.
“But from a moment, if you talk about a moment in a game and for a senior player to stand up, we hadn’t scored at that point, it was halfway through the quarter and for those two guys to go as hard as they did at the footy, and the way Dmac attacks it, (was impressive).
“We ended up winning contested ball after that period by about plus 23 for the rest of the game, I think we scored nine goals to four for the rest of the game.
“It was a really key moment in the turnaround where our guys regrouped, put their shields up and went to work.
“So, from that point of view, it is so good to see a senior player step up for the team.”
STARTS NOW THE ISSUE?
It has taken 13 games, but now the Crows have finally won a third quarter.
But Nicks is still searching for a four-quarter performance after yet another horror show in the first term by his side.
He said after losing to Collingwood a week prior that the first quarter in that game was the worst this season from a skills and decision-making perspective.
A week later and Nicks would have to re-evaluate that statement as the Crows couldn’t even score a point early on in Cairns.
At quarter time, the Crows had 33 turnovers to the Saints 21, while St Kilda were winning the contested possession 67 to 33.
The Crows were able to fight back, winning that elusive third quarter on the way, but for Nicks getting the monkey off the back doesn’t mean all that much.
“To be honest it means absolutely nothing, we have now lost the last two first quarters,” he said.
“This was more about the second half, a much better product out there in the second half.
“There are a lot of factors in that.
“We had 13 or 14 players who had not travelled away and played in a night game, which is quite amazing when you look at the group we are working with.
“So, the challenges that come with that is spending a full day on the road, the night prior and we will stay again here tonight.
“It’s not giving an excuse to any of our players, we have to be better than we were but it is interesting at looking at that dynamic that you do get from playing and experiencing what it is.
“For our guys to be so disappointing with our start and then to fight back that is the part we will analyse.”
RATS’ CHALLENGE
If they weren’t over already, then St Kilda can kiss its finals chances goodbye after that loss.
The feel-good story of 2020, the Saints have been the most disappointing side of 2021 with many before the season tipping them to challenge for at least a top-four spot.
Saints coach Brett Ratten said it was now up to the players to decide what they wanted to get out of this year.
“I think this is more about where the players want to go with their footy personally and hopefully that affects us collectively,” he said.
“For three quarters we were pretty good, but the game doesn’t stop at three-quarter-time and that has been the issue for us this year.
“To just give away huge numbers in stats … we will find out a lot about our players and list this year and hopefully it can put us in good stead of what’s to come.”
Key to this would be stopping the fade-outs that can last even a whole quarter for the Saints.
“We have been in some close games now and we can’t get it done and that is something that we did quite well last year,” Ratten said.
“For our group, we need to find a way and that is what the good teams do and we aren’t finding a way to win.
“The conditions weren’t about how beautiful you can kick the ball, it was how high you can roll your sleeves up.”
CROUCH RUNS RIOT
It was a matchup that many had been waiting to see ever since Brad Crouch crossed the border and became a Saint in the off-season.
Crouch faced off against his former side for the first time in a battle that footy fans have been eager to see since he left for Victoria.
The St Kilda on-baller maintained his strong recent form, which has seen him average 25 disposals this season, backing up last week’s 38 with another 36 touches and a goal.
Crouch did not get to go up against brother and former Crows teammate Matt, with the younger sibling recovering after undergoing surgery for an ongoing groin issue last month.
TEX KEPT QUIET
Before the game, Taylor Walker was sitting second on the Coleman Medal leaderboard with 36 goals, rediscovering the form that saw him feared as one of the most dangerous forwards in the competition.
Walker has kicked bags of five goals or more three times this year, with the Crows’ big man relishing in the new rule changes which allow him to run and jump at the footy.
But Saints backman Dougal Howard provided a lockdown job on the big Texan to minimise his impact on the game.
Howard kept Walker to just the one goal, and finished with 24 disposals to Walker’s 11 and seven marks to his opposite’s three.
Walker still sits one goal behind Carlton’s Harry McKay in the Coleman Medal race, who doesn’t play this week, with the Blues having the bye.
RYDER’S SPECIAL MILESTONE
St Kilda’s Paddy Ryder tied the record for the 10th most games played by an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander on Saturday night.
Ryder equalled Brisbane Lions great Chris Johnson’s record of 264 games in St Kilda’s heartbreaking loss to Adelaide.
Since his return in Round 7 against the Hawks, the 33-year-old ruckman has been in sublime form, averaging 35 hit-outs per game.
He was well below that on the night, finishing with 28 hit-outs in the trying tropical conditions.
SCOREBOARD
SAINTS 4.3 7.6 8.9 8.12 (60)
CROWS 0.0 2.6 6.6 9.12 (66)
SPARKES’ BEST
Saints: Crouch, Steele, Dunstan, Butler, Highmore, Howard. Crows: Laird, Keays, Seedsman, Thilthorpe, Doedee, Rowe.
GOALS
Saints: King 2, Wood 2, Butler, Byrnes, Crouch, Sinclair. Crows: Thilthorpe 3, Mackay, McAdam, Rowe, Sloane, Smith, Walker.
INJURIES
Saints: Hunter Clark (broken jaw)
LATE CHANGES: Nil
UMPIRES
Stevic, Brown, Whetton
VENUE
Cazalys Stadium
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
SPARKES’ VOTES
3. R Laird (Ade)
2. B Crouch (Stk)
1. R Thilthorpe (Ade)
Why not Port, Ken? Swans show exactly why with finals lesson
Ken Hinkley asked his side pre-game, why not us? The answer was shown on the field at the SCG, which is as simple as they’re not good enough to take that last step, writes Matt Turner.
Port fans go scorched earth on Ken Hinkley
The Swans have marched into another grand final, but Ken Hinkley was the name on many lips after he fell short yet again.