AFL tribunal: Alex Pearce avoids suspension for bump on Darcy Byrne-Jones

Fremantle has successfully overturned a three-match ban handed to its captain Alex Pearce despite the AFL arguing he was to blame for a collision which left Darcy Byrne-Jones concussed.

Alex Pearce is free to play this weekend for Fremantle after successfully downgrading his three-match suspension for rough conduct for his collision with Port Adelaide’s Darcy Byrne-Jones.

Byrne-Jones was left concussed following the incident in the second quarter of Fremantle’s win over the Power, where he and Pearce met at the drop of the ball in a marking contest. The Port Adelaide half-forward was subbed out of the game and has since been placed into concussion protocols.

The incident was initially graded as careless conduct, high contact and severe impact, handing Pearce the three-match ban, with the Dockers only challenging the conduct grading. It was their belief that Pearce was acting reasonably at every stage of the contest and even took steps to mitigate the contact.

The Fremantle captain gave evidence to convey his feeling that he acted the same way he would in any other marking scenario. The Dockers’ counsel, Tim Hammond, also showed footage from a marking contest earlier in the game that ended with Pearce taking possession of the ball.

Pearce stated that he was trying to close the space with Byrne-Jones by himself in the forward pocket, that he was aware the Power player was close and that there would be a collision, but at almost every step of the way, he believed he could mark the ball.

At the last instant when he thought he would not be able to mark the ball, Pearce also stated that he did not raise his arms because he felt that would cause a greater collision with Byrne-Jones’ head.

Pearce confirmed that he would not change his actions if he found himself in a similar scenario, while stating he believed he would have shirked his responsibilities as both a player and captain of the football club had he not committed to the contest.

The Dockers also showed high-angle footage to convey that Pearce never deviated from his path to the drop of the ball. The clip also showed that he arrived at the contest only marginally after Byrne-Jones first made contact with the ball.

The AFL’s main contention was whether or not Pearce had a realistic chance of marking the ball. If the Tribunal found that was not the case, they felt there were other things he should have done to mitigate the collision. They also argued that it was inevitable that Pearce was going to be second to the contest and that the collision was likely going to result in a reportable offence.

Following a deliberation of about half an hour, Tribunal chair Jeff Gleeson KC confirmed that the rough conduct charge would be thrown out and Pearce would be free to take the field against Gold Coast this weekend.

In his reasoning, Gleeson stated that there were five reasons why the Tribunal found the rough conduct charge was not upheld. They believed that Pearce intended to mark the ball, that he was a realistic chance to mark the ball, that his eyes never left the ball until it was too late, that he did what he could to mitigate contact and that the collision was not a bump.

Gleeson also made note of the fact that while Byrne-Jones suffered a concussion, and many concussion-related incidents this year have already resulted in three-match suspensions, every incident is examined independently.

Originally published as AFL tribunal: Alex Pearce avoids suspension for bump on Darcy Byrne-Jones