Footy analyst David King says Tom Jonas ‘got off light’ with six-week suspension for striking Andrew Gaff

AFL analyst David King believes Power defender Tom Jonas should have been suspended for eight weeks for his hit on Eagle Andrew Gaff — and has lashed the way the club and player handled the issue.

Tom Jonas moves in to collide with West Coast’s Andrew Gaff. Picture: Mark Brake

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AFL analyst David King believes Power defender Tom Jonas should have been suspended for eight weeks for his hit on Eagle Andrew Gaff — and has lashed the way the club and player handled the issue.

Speaking on RadioTAB this morning, King said Jonas’s hit on Gaff was “as bad as what we’ll see”.

“If you want to be brutally honest about it, I think he got off light — I think it’s an eight-week offence.

“You’ve got a player running back with the flight of the ball, completely open — there is no more vulnerable position in our game than a player coming back with the flight of the ball like that.

“Now, players make decisions in split seconds, we know that, but they generally make great decisions in split seconds.

“You know when you’re going to get to a ball and you know when you’re not going to get to a ball.

“Tom Jonas knew he wasn’t going to get there. He would have known three steps out, four steps out.

“He decided to raise an elbow ... now, that is a serious weapon in that instance, in AFL football.

“To strike him on the back of the head — I was 30m from that on the boundary line (and) I felt sick.

“I saw him go down (and) I just think it was such a violent act I was surprised he hasn’t got eight weeks, because that is as bad as what we’ll see.

“There's sometimes you’ve got to stamp actions out.

King said the tribunal should have used the report to make a point to the competition: “If you’re going to engage in something like this, expect to miss two months of the season.”

He was also highly critical of how Jonas and Port Adelaide had handled the wash-up from the incident, especially the decision to argue before the tribunal that the action was not intentional.

“You’ve just got to put your hand up,” King said. “I was disappointed he (Jonas) didn’t fly over, say: ‘Yep, I did the wrong thing ... Was it a calculated decision? No, I made a clumsy effort two steps before contact but I accept that you’re probably going to throw the book at me’, rather than trying to get it downgraded.

“It’s been poorly handled from the moment he was felled, Andrew Gaff.

“To text someone: ‘Hey, listen, here’s an apology’ ... no, no you get on the phone and you ring them, you speak to them.

Tom Jonas moves in to collide with West Coast’s Andrew Gaff. Picture: Mark Brake

“You’ve got to man up with these things.

“Let’s be honest, Tom Jonas has flirted the line the last few weeks — he virtually kneed Patrick Dangerfield on the siren a few weeks ago ... this has been brewing, this has been building.

“So I don’t cut him any slack on this one at all.”

King wasn’t cutting Ken Hinkley much slack either, after the Power coach defended Jonas (though not his action).

“Tommy does play close to the line, we understand that’s the way he plays his football, Tommy would be disappointed that Gaff got hurt,” Hinkley told the media.

“He takes it to the edge, that’s the way he plays his footy and he’s made a mistake.

“He’s a nice bloke, he knows he made a mistake, the AFL will take care of that and Tommy will cop what comes his way but he’s more concerned for Andrew.”

King was unimpressed.

“Port are a very very good football team playing very ordinary football,” he said this morning.

“This is not the answer for them. This pseudo toughness that they’re talking about — going close to the line. That’s not close to the line, that’s miles over the line.

“Let’s not even try and manufacture an excuse or an out for this instance.

“I’d just rather Ken just come out and say: ‘You know what, Tom’s made a mistake, he’ll get his whack and we’ll move on’.”

Despite the severity of the incident, King is still wary of calls for a send-off rule in AFL football.

“Look, I understand the case for it (but) I just don’t think we need it.

“We probably have one offence a year where it’s warranted.

“Do we need the confusion, do we need any more stress on our umpires?

“Let’s be honest, they’ve got the ability to report, and there’s times when they would withdraw those reports, there’s times when those reports are defeated at the tribunal ... so I don’t know if we need the added stress of you’ve got to send a player off and, gee whiz, you have to hope that you get that right.

“If you send someone off and there’s grey area there ...

“If we get three more instances this year that are that sort of violent manner, then we need to look at it.

“Let’s not jump at shadows.”

Originally published as Footy analyst David King says Tom Jonas ‘got off light’ with six-week suspension for striking Andrew Gaff