AFL 2021: Port Adelaide decides against appealing Scott Lycett’s four-match suspension
Port Adelaide has made its call on whether to appeal Scott Lycett’s four-game suspension for a dangerous tackle.
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Port Adelaide won’t challenge Scott Lycett’s four-match suspension for a dangerous tackle on Crows forward Ned McHenry in Showdown 49.
The ruckman was slapped with the lengthy ban for the tackle on McHenry, which knocked the young Adelaide forward out and led to him being subbed with concussion in the first quarter of Saturday night’s match.
The Power had been hoping for a three-game ban after the tackle was graded as careless conduct, severe impact and high contact.
The incident led to McHenry being subbed off with concussion in the first quarter on Saturday night.
Although Lycett pleaded guilty on Tuesday night, the tribunal agreed with AFL QC Jeff Gleeson that four games was an appropriate sanction, given the way McHenry’s head hit the ground, the potential for further injury and how it compared to similar tackles.
Lycett will miss the Power’s matches against Western Bulldogs (home), Collingwood (away), Fremantle (home) and Geelong (home).
The Power had been considering an appeal but announced on Wednesday they would accept the punishment.
“Scott plead guilty to all elements of the AFL’s charge and on that basis, we accept the tribunal’s sanction,” said Port Adelaide General Manager of Football, Chris Davies.
“Unfortunately, mistakes can be made in the heat of the moment. Scott has privately expressed his remorse to Ned McHenry and has also done so publicly. As a club, we wish Ned well for his recovery.”
Lycett said after the ban was handed down: “I’m very remorseful for what’s happened over the weekend.
“I’m disappointed with four weeks, but very remorseful.”
Match Review Officer Michael Christian had sent Lycett’s case straight to the tribunal on a rough conduct charge.
During the hour-long hearing, Gleeson said the tackle had potential for a worse injury, including a facial issue, because it was a whipping action that slammed McHenry’s head into the turf.
The AFL’s representative compared the incident to Alex Neal-Bullen’s sling tackle on Crow Will Hamill last year, for which the Melbourne player received a four-week ban.
He also said Lycett being much bigger than McHenry – 102kg to 73kg – needed to be taken into account when considering the force that the Crow’s head hit the ground.
Gleeson called the tackle “extremely forceful” and vision of it “unpleasant to watch” because McHenry was immediately dazed.
Port Adelaide QC Paul Ehrlich had argued Lycett’s incident was on the lower end of the scale for severe impact.
He refuted the comparison to the Neal-Bullen tackle, saying it was on a lesser level and should only be penalised for three matches.
Likening part of his argument to a physics lecture, Ehrlich discussed centrifugal force and compared Olympic hammer throw to shot put when relating Lycett’s incident to Neal-Bullen’s.
Ehrlich told the hearing Lycett’s size should be irrelevant to the sanction.
He called on the tribunal of Stewart Loewe, David Neitz and Wayne Henwood, whom he noted were all former key-position players, to not punish him for “being Goliath”.
The jury took a short time to deliberate before handing down the four-week ban.
WAS DEFENDER ROBBED OF SHOWDOWN MEDAL?
—Simeon Thomas-Wilson
Coaches’ votes from the weekend have backed a decision by an expert panel to award the Showdown 49 medal to Travis Boak ahead of defender Tom Clurey.
The medal announcement was thrown into the spotlight after Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley declared in his post-match press conference that “Tom (Clurey) was best on ground” against Adelaide.
Boak was judged best afield by a four-person panel, earning two lots of three votes to finish on eight, two clear of Clurey.
It was the third time midfielder Boak had collected the Showdown medal.
But Hinkley doubled down on his comments on Sunday, saying he thought his defenders would have filled the top three.
“I thought Tom (Clurey) was clearly best on ground,” Hinkley said.
“I thought Tom Jonas may have been close to second and I thought Darcy Byrne-Jones might have been third.”
Clurey kept Crows talisman Taylor Walker to just six disposals and two marks, while also amassing 17 possessions and seven marks of his own.
The coaches votes released on Monday had Boak on top with eight, Clurey next on seven and
Rory Laird in third on five.
Coaches votes are compiled by both clubs, suggesting Matthew Nicks and his Crows leaders awarded Boak the five votes.
Port senior assistant coach Michael Voss said he thought Clurey was the best player on the ground.
“We handed in our Coaches Association votes and we went with Cluz (Clurey) as the five (maximum votes),” he said.
“I think Boaky has won enough awards … so I don’t think Boaky would mind me saying that Cluz was a pretty important player on the day.
“When you value who he was up against, he was essentially against the form forward of the competition (in Walker).
“To be able to nullify his influence and then have such a significant one was a fair weighting in the way we assessed the game and it was a significant contest in the game.”
But while Clurey got the maximum five votes from Hinkley and his coaching staff, he only got two from Nicks and his coaches.
This left him on seven votes from the coaches, one behind Boak.
Rory Laird received five votes, Tom Jonas and Darcy Byrne-Jones four and Todd Marshall and Karl Amon one each.
The Coaches Association does not break down who voted for who when it releases its votes from the weekend.
Showdown medal voting
Warren Tredrea (FIVEaa)
3. Lycett 2. Clurey 1. Dixon
Matt Turner (The Advertiser)
3. Boak 2. Laird 1. Clurey
Rod Jameson (ABC Grandstand)
3. Amon 2. Boak 1. Lycett
Cal Twomey (afl.com.au)
3. Boak 2. Clurey 1. Laird
COACHES ASSOCIATION VOTING
8 Travis Boak (Port)
7 Tom Clurey (Port)
5 Rory Laird (Adel)
4 Tom Jonas (Port)
4 Darcy Byrne-Jones (Port)
1 Todd Marshall (Port)
1 Karl Amon (Port)
BUTTERS SUFFERS NERVE SETBACK
Zak Butters’ return from a syndesmosis injury has been delayed after the Port Adelaide young gun suffered some nerve damage in that leg.
Butters has been on the sidelines since Round 4, when he suffered the injury to his left ankle against reigning premiers Richmond.
He had surgery on the injury and after starting running last week the 20-year-old noticed some weaknesses in his lower leg.
Scans have revealed that from the same incident Butters suffered a nerve injury.
Port have said it will prolong the rehabilitation process, and there is now no set timeline on when the young gun will return.
In better new for the Power defender Dan Houston has been cleared of any further injury to his shoulder following a heavy collision during Saturday night’s Showdown win.
Houston was subbed out of the game in the third quarter, after re-aggravating an AC joint injury he sustained three weeks ago.
The Power said the 23-year-old will be monitored throughout the week to determine his availability for Saturday night’s clash with the Western Bulldogs.
Defender Lachie Jones, who also had an ankle syndesmosis repair, is on track to push for selection in Round 10.
Xavier Duursma is expected to start running again next week following surgery to repair the lateral ligament in his right knee — which also happened against Richmond.
Young forward Ollie Lord has been sidelined by a bout of appendicitis, after previously battling a calf issue.
The 19-year-old had his appendix removed last week and the club said he was expected to miss about three weeks of football.
PORT STAR EXPOSES VICIOUS TROLLS
— Liz Walsh, Jon Ralph
Ken Hinkley says Scott Lycett is a victim of Port Adelaide’s brand of hard contested football after he was sent directly to the tribunal for a dangerous sling tackle.
Lycett executed a slinging, dumping tackle that concussed Adelaide’s Ned McHenry in the Showdown victory on Saturday night.
AFL match review officer Michael Christian assessed the force as intentional, which means it has a base suspension of three weeks that the tribunal can consider.
The tribunal overturned Bailey Fritsch’s elbow to the head of Tom Powell last week in a move that confounded most tribunal watchers.
But a three-week ban would see him missing clashes against the Western Bulldogs, Collingwood and Fremantle.
Hinkley said on Sunday Lycett would have to face the consequences but had been attempting to attack his opponent.
“I’ve got my team really wound up on contested football and having to play, but they know the risk and they understand the risk,” he told 3AW.
“It doesn’t make it right, but he wouldn’t have set out to do the damage, but he set out to tackle hard and unfortunately the person who was tackled was a little person.
“And as long as Ned’s OK, Scott will have to deal with what he has to deal with and we as a football club we don’t shy away from that, we know the rules.”
Lycett shared a series of offensive social messages by trolls who have since deleted their accounts after his clash with McHenry.
Lycett on Sunday night said the trolling was unacceptable, owning the poor tackle against McHenry but furious at the nature of the abuse.
“Footy is a physical game, but I acknowledge my tackle on Ned McHenry last night overstepped the mark and will be dealt with at the AFL Tribunal. I truly hope he’s OK,” he posted.
“However the abuse that has followed has been outrageous. People should take a breath and reflect before posting.”
Lycett told his 20,000 followers: “The joys of AFL footy people”, while revealing awful messages.
In one of the particularly cruel and offensive messages, one troll told Lycett to “literally kill yourself you low life” and “jump off the nearest bridge”.
The other troll wrote: “Pick on mchenry like ur tuff … pick on tex u ugly mother f**ker. Ur moustache looks like a f**ken slug. U ugly west coast reject (sic).”
The Crows will now investigate whether the messages were sent by club members and will take appropriate action if required.
In a statement, Adelaide said: “The club does not condone offensive or threatening behaviour of any kind including on social media and we will investigate whether abuse directed towards a Port Adelaide player involves one of our members, and if so will take appropriate action to reiterate that this behaviour is not tolerated.”
GWS forward Jeremy Finlayson was offered a one-week suspension for his elbow to the head of Essendon’s Zach Merrett.
Finlayson, who kicked three goals in the victory over the Bombers, thrust his elbow out in a deliberate manner.
But the footage showed the elbow sliding up from Merrett’s back and the Essendon star played on.
It meant the MRO assessed the impact as low rather than medium impact, which would have been a two-week penalty.
GWS takes on Richmond on Saturday night, with Finlayson in strong form after two quiet weeks against the Bulldogs and Adelaide.
Jesse Hogan missed the Essendon clash with calf soreness, so will again be in doubt to take on the Tigers.
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