West Coast defender Jeremy McGovern’s one-game ban upheld, AFL tweaks sling tackle guidelines
West Coast’s bid to overturn Jeremy McGovern’s one-game striking ban started with a bizarre twist when a documentary crew was booted from the hearing. Here’s why.
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West Coast superstar Jeremy McGovern’s virtual tribunal appearance failed on Tuesday night, as did Amazon Prime’s cheeky attempt to film the hearing for its $10 million AFL documentary.
McGovern will miss Saturday night’s clash against Brisbane Lions after the tribunal upheld match review officer Michael Christian’s charge that his strike on Alex Sexton was intentional, and not careless.
The AFL’s first ever remote tribunal hearing began with chairman David Jones banishing the Amazon crew from the room as McGovern gave evidence from at the club’s Gold Coast hub.
Media are permitted to attend, but not record, tribunal hearings.
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McGovern, 28, argued that he did not strike Sexton with an open palm because Eagles players are told to curl their fingers and bend their wrists for protection.
“I’ve dislocated my fingers too many times pushing and grabbing,” McGovern said.
Sexton received a $1000 fine (discounted to $500 due to this year’s pay cuts) for bumping McGovern moments before the strike, and their mutual dislike for each other was evident last night.
McGovern was also fined $1000 for shoving Sexton towards the Metricon Stadium fence.
McGovern said he told Sexton that he had his head over the ball and the Suns player didn’t when the bump occurred.
“What he did was dangerous and I didn’t really like it,” McGovern said.
“My intention was to grab him and tell him I didn’t agree with what he did. I just said I didn’t think that was on.
“Obviously my intention was to never go anywhere near his face. I didn’t realise I made contact with his face.
“I was going to grab him in the chest and jumper. I definitely wasn’t going for his face.”
McGovern said the pair continued to argue about Sexton’s bump, and Sexton “didn’t say anything” about the strike that has cost McGovern a suspension.
“If he did I would’ve apologised because it wasn’t my intention to hit him in the face,” McGovern said.
“The umpire didn’t see it and he was right there as well. My teammates would’ve pulled me up (if they’d seen it) too.”
After the hour-long hearing the jury took a further 25 minutes to deliberate, as they logged out of the WebEx conference and into a private meeting to decide McGovern’s fate.
BURGOYNE TACKLE PROMPTS AFL RULE CHANGE
The AFL Commission has granted Match Review Officer Michael Christian the power to suspend players for dangerous sling tackles based on the potential to cause injury.
The league felt let down by its tribunal guidelines after Hawthorn star Shaun Burgoyne was cleared to take on Richmond on Thursday night despite his ugly tackle on Patrick Dangerfield.
The Geelong superstar was able to free one arm and avoid injury when he was dumped by Burgoyne, which allowed Burgoyne to escape with a $1000 fine.
While the AFL ticked off on Christian’s decision to fine Burgoyne under the old framework, the same action would go suspended in Round 3.
Burgoyne’s rough conduct charge was graded as careless conduct, low impact and high contact, which equated to a $1000 fine.
But in Round 3 the same tackle would be graded as medium impact because of the potential to cause injury, triggering a one-match suspension.
“We want to be clear – protection to the head is our highest priority, and we want all players at all levels and all age groups to understand these tackles shouldn’t be part of our game,” football boss Steve Hocking said.
“Dangerous tackles have the potential to cause head injuries, and it is essential that this is taken into account when assessing an incident under the AFL tribunal guidelines.
“We’ve acted swiftly.”
Hocking and AFL legal counsel Andrew Dillon tabled the change as part of their Round 2 review on Monday morning.
The recommendation was ticked off by AFL boss Gillon McLachlan and then the AFL Commission.
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