WATCH: Northern Football League hands out suspensions for ugly incidents
The NFL tribunal comes down hard on ugly incidents, including a Lower Plenty player who broke one of footy’s cardinal rules. SEE THE BRAWL HERE
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The Northern Football League tribunal has come down hard on a number of players after ugly incidents on the weekend.
Mernda captain Josh Delaney was handed the largest of the suspensions, copping 12 weeks for striking Old Eltham Collegians’ Jack Fitzgerald.
Two Lower Plenty players – Corey Sleep and Ciaran Porter – were banned after a wild brawl in the second quarter of the Bears’ Division 2 win over Epping.
Sleep left the interchange area to get involved in the melee and earned one match for striking Pingers’ Alec Buchan and three matches for misconduct.
It is one of football’s cardinals sins to enter the field of play while on the bench and nobody from Lower Plenty tried to stop him.
Porter was given two matches for misconduct against Lucas Aquilina.
The brawl was sparked when Epping’s Luke Nicol collided with Alex Alderton at a boundary throw in and Ben Paterson runs in to remonstrate.
Buchan puts Sam Paterson in a headlock and the incident escalates into an all-in brawl.
Billy Barden appears lucky to have escaped suspension after putting Epping’s Jackson Freebairn in a choke hold during the fracas.
Freebairn was yellow carded after the brawl but was not sanctioned. No Epping players were cited.
It’s an ugly look for Lower Plenty and the league on the eve of Pat Cronin Round.
Pat Cronin was a Bears player when he was coward punched and passed away in 2016 and the league is a supporter of the foundation set up in his name.
Meanwhile, Delaney is now close to triggering a lifetime ban from football under AFL guidelines.
The Demons skipper was cited for a high hit on Fitzgerald in the first quarter of the loss at Eltham College.
The Turtles player has his head over the ball and is caught in the face by a swinging arm from Delaney and forced from the ground under the blood rule.
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Any bans totalling four weeks in the future would see Delaney reach the 16-week trigger for a lifetime ban.
He’ll miss the rest of the NFL Division 3 season and the first three matches of 2022.
Mernda teammate Ryan Kannegiesser accepted a one-match ban for striking.
Northcote Park will be without ruckman Oliver McEwean for two weeks after he was suspended for rough conduct in the loss to West Preston-Lakeside.
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