Patrick Dangerfield cited by AFL’s MRP over tackle on Carlton’s Matthew Kreuzer
IT’S a team-first mentality for Patrick Dangerfield but Geelong coach Chris Scott says challenging his one-week suspension might be good for football.
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GEELONG is weighing up legal advice on a possible tribunal appeal against the ban that has knocked Patrick Dangerfield out of contention for consecutive Brownlow Medals.
The Geelong superstar was charged with rough conduct and hit with a two-match suspension — reduced to one week with a guilty plea — for his heavy tackle that left Carlton ruck Matthew Kreuzer concussed.
Dangerfield faces a two-week stint on the sidelines should he elect to appeal at tonight’s AFL tribunal and fail. The Cats have until 11am today to decide whether to roll the dice.
Cats coach Chris Scott said it “would be good for the footy world” to have Dangerfield’s case tested before the AFL tribunal but the risk of an extra week’s penalty makes that difficult.
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“It’d be good for the footy world to put it up and test it with a separate group of people,” Scott told Fox Footy’ AFL 360.
“It’s so easy for other people to say you should put up and test that – they’re not risking what we’re risking.”
Geelong engaged a Queen’s Counsel to assess the likelihood of an appeal succeeding.
A little known “exceptional and compelling circumstances” clause in the tribunal guidelines would allow a player to challenge and still receive the same ban that they were offered.
“We are awaiting advice before deciding whether to challenge at the tribunal,” a Geelong spokesman said.
The match review panel deemed the Dangerfield tackle to be careless, medium impact and to the head.
Earlier, Dangerfield said it was team-first after the AFL’s match review panel cited the Brownlow Medal favourite for his tackle on Matthew Kreuzer.
Despite declaring that he “didn’t think there was much in it”, the Geelong superstar was offered a one-match ban for rough conduct.
The Cats will wait until Tuesday morning before deciding whether to appeal the ban – a move backed by Scott.
“We are conscious that we don’t want this to – and I don’t think we have much choice – but we’d prefer it not to drag on and become a huge issue and take our focus off the game that we’ve got this week against Sydney which is obviously a big one,” he said.
“I don’t think if we take one night to sleep on it and consider our options, that it will get in the way of our preparation.”
Scott said he believes there are “grounds” upon which the club should consider its options.
But he said the outcome of the tackle – in this case, Kreuzer being concussed – should be taken into account.
“We acknowledge how difficult the job of the MRP is and in this situation,” he said.
“Everyone acknowledges that protecting players in vulnerable positions in tackling is full of merit.
“But trying to determine between a fair tackle and an unfair tackle is so difficult. And it does seem still that if you tackle someone and there’s a bad outcome, you’re going to be in trouble. I don’t think the majority of football people think that that’s the right outcome.”
Speaking after the MRP handed down its verdict on Monday, Dangerfield said thoughts of a second medal would have no bearing on whether or not the club appeals.
“It’s not ideal, but at the end of the day, we’ll make a decision that’s best for the team — not the individual — and what’s best for the rest of our season,” Dangerfield said.
“No doubt (I take the Brownlow out of any decision). It’s the last thing on my mind. What we’re focused on is not only this week, but the remainder of the season and putting ourselves in a really strong position come the end of the year and come the start of the finals campaign.
CONGRATULATIONS TO THE @AFL NANNY STATE COMP OF THE YEAR MRP A COMPLETE FARCE #joke #patrickdangerfield #getstuffed pic.twitter.com/WZAyOifhfB
— Andrew Bews (@abews27) July 31, 2017
“That’s an important part of the decision that’s to be made.”
Dangerfield said he hadn’t considered his personal view on whether he wants to appeal.
“I haven’t really thought about it a huge amount to be honest,” he said.
“We’ve just come out of our team meeting, so it’s been a bit of a whirlwind half an hour. That’s something that we’ll discuss as a club. We’ll come to the right decision and move on from there.”
Former Geelong captain Andrew Bews was scathing of the decision on Twitter, labelling the MRP “a complete farce”.
The panel took video evidence and a medical report from Carlton into account and assessed the incident as “careless with medium impact to the head”.
Luke Hodge has also been offered a one-game ban — his third fine of 2017 equating to an automatic suspension — while Sydney star Lance Franklin cleared over his contact with the Hawks champion.
Kreuzer played no further part in Saturday night’s game after the tackle, in which his arms were pinned and he was brought to ground.
The result means Richmond star Dustin Martin is now hot favourite to take out this year’s Brownlow Medal.
Franklin’s hit on Hodge was assessed but he was cleared, with the panel deeming the high contact “not a striking motion”.
Taylor Adams can accept a $1000 sanction for rough conduct on Rory Laird.
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