Court threat frees Jesse Derrick to play in QAFL grand final

THE Jesse Derrick suspension saga has taken an extraordinary twist with the Palm Beach-­Currumbin captain cleared to play in the QAFL grand final on Saturday.

THE Jesse Derrick suspension saga has taken an extraordinary twist with the Palm Beach-­Currumbin captain cleared to play in the QAFL grand final on Saturday.

AFL Queensland late yesterday advised PBC that Derrick was now eligible to play in the grand final against Labrador at Wally Fankhauser Reserve.

Derrick was originally charged with engaging in unreasonable rough conduct by the QAFL match review panel following a dangerous tackle on Broadbeach player Robert Blood in his side’s qualifying win over the Cats in week one of the finals series.

Derrick was offered a three-week suspension that could be reduced to a two-week suspension with an early guilty plea.

PBC appealed against the two-match suspension on the grounds of Derrick’s immaculate record and were successful in having the penalty reduced to one match, which he served when the Lions bowled over Labrador in the major semi-final.

The tackle that almost cost Palm Beach-Currumbin player Jesse Derrick a chance to play the grand final. Photo: Supplied

Broadbeach then stepped in and appealed the “manifestly inadequate” penalty of one match and an independent panel overturned the one-match ban and reverted it back to three.

Following the Broadbeach appeal, AFLQ received correspondence from the Palm Beach requesting the procedures surrounding the independent appeal hearing be urgently reviewed.

On the advice of barrister Adrian Anderson, a former AFL football operations chief, PBC threatened to take the matter to the Supreme Court.

This, according to AFLQ chief executive Dean Warren, was the clincher for PBC.

“Lawyers for Palm Beach said they’d go to the Supreme Court,” Warren said.

“When we received that we took independent legal advice which indicated that the prospect of court action being successful (for the AFLQ) were minimal.”

AFLQ originally referred the matter to an independent legal practitioner for review and sought counsel from AFL Legal.

Following receipt of the advice AFL Queensland has ­determined that the:

■ FINDINGS of the appeal board be set aside.

■ ORIGINAL sanction imposed by the tribunal at first ­instance be reinstated.

PBC president Anne Cornish said when she told Derrick he was clear to play in the grand final he was elated. “Understandably Jesse has been on an emotional rollercoaster for a fortnight,” Cornish said.

According to Broadbeach officials, Blood has been suffering from continuing headaches from the September 2 incident when his head hit the ground after a slinging tackle applied by Derrick.

The PBC captain, who played more than 100 games for Broadbeach before returning to the Lions, was last year’s QAFL Grogan Medal winner as adjudged best and fairest player in the competition.