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AFL Tribunal: Hawk Daniel Howe cops three-match ban for tripping Blue Zac Fisher
HAWTHORN’S Daniel Howe has been slapped with a long ban for his trip that left Blue Zac Fisher with a broken leg as Lion Tom Cutler’s appeal against a two-match suspension fails.
HAWTHORN will be without Daniel Howe for five weeks after the defender was tonight slammed with a three-week ban for his trip on emerging Blue Zac Fisher.
And while he has admitted he needs “rein in” his behaviour, he is determined to keep playing on the edge. Howe, 23, had attempted to downgrade his tripping charge — that was deemed careless, severe impact and to the body by match review officer Michael Christian on Monday — to medium or high impact, but failed. SCROLL DOWN TO RE-CAP TONIGHT’S TRIBUNAL HEARING AND ALL TODAY’S FOOTBALL NEWS KENNETT: SUNS’ STRUGGLES AFL’S FAULT RUN HOME: WHO GETS SQUEEZED OUT IN FINALS FIGHT? “I’m disappointed with the outcome but I’ve got a good training block ahead of me and hopefully the boys can play finals and I can take part in that,” Howe said following the outcome. Hawks skipper Jarryd Roughead said yesterday that Howe had to find the balance between being “on the edge” and “making sure he doesn’t go over” it. “I think I play my best footy (on the edge), but obviously I have to rein it in,” Howe said. “I don’t want to be missing weeks and games of footy. It’s best to be on the field.” The tribunal took more than 20 minutes to dismiss the argument, before handing him the three-week penalty that will now be served in addition to the two-week penalty he was delivered on Monday for striking star Blue Patrick Cripps earlier in Sunday’s game. If Hawthorn — currently eighth on the ladder — does not make finals, Howe’s season is over. Fisher, 20, suffered a broken fibula in the incident and will not play again this season. Howe did not dispute his guilt of the trip but had fought to have the impact downgraded to either medium — which would have resulted in a fine — or high, which would have been a one-match ban. COMPLETE THE SURVEY BELOW AND YOU COULD WIN AFL GRAND FINAL TICKETS The AFL had argued that Howe’s leg was “swinging with momentum” — albeit without malice — and affirmed that if a broken leg, “a major bone”, and missing the rest of the season isn’t worthy of a severe impact charge, “what is?”. “It is comfortably within the severe category,” the league’s advocate Jeff Gleeson QC said. The Hawks rejected that argument and said injuries like “a knee reconstruction, compound fracture, career-ending injury” would be worthy of a severe impact charge. “This is a six-week injury. Serious, but the player will recover and come back,” Hawks advocate Peter O’Farrell said. “It was an accident.” Roughead said that the Hawks wouldn’t “whack” Howe. “You have to be careful how you go about it, because he still plays his best football hen he’s probably on the edge,” he said. “It’s just a matter of making sure he doesn’t go over the edge. “But I don’t think it’s time to try and jump on a bloke and whack him as well, because he’s going to be feeling pretty flat anyway. “It’s a matter of still being positive around him.” Brisbane’s Tom Cutler’s attempt to have his rough conduct charge overturned has fallen flat, with the Lion to miss the next two games. Cutler, 23, challenged his two-match ban for careless conduct with high impact to the head against Crow Lachlan Murphy at the league’s tribunal on Tuesday night with the panel taking just two minutes to uphold the ban. The Lion — visibly disappointed with the outcome — had attempted to argue that he had no realistic alternative in the circumstances and that his actions in bracing to protect both he and Murphy were not unreasonable. He also attempted to argue that he had been endeavouring to effect a spoil and did not know what contact was coming his way. He will miss matches against Geelong and North Melbourne. “Firstly I’d like to extend my well wishes to Lachie Murphy of Adelaide,” Cutler said. “I never meant to hurt him in the contest. I wish him well and I hope he’s back playing football soon. “Obviously I’m disappointed with the decision that the tribunal made, but I have to respect their decision. “My job now is to focus on training and supporting my teammates for the next two weeks. I’m just looking forward to getting ahead with my football.” Watch every match of every round of the 2018 Toyota AFL Premiership Season. SIGN UP NOW >
Originally published as AFL Tribunal: Hawk Daniel Howe cops three-match ban for tripping Blue Zac Fisher