Match Review Officer can suspend players for dangerous sling tackles based on the potential to cause injury
The league as amended its tribunal guidelines after Hawk Shaun Burgoyne’s ugly tackle on Patrick Dangerfield. Having been in a similar position before, the superstar Cat has shared his thoughts on the issue.
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The AFL Commission moved to stamp out all sling tackles on Monday after the league admitted the $500 fine given to Hawthorn’s Shaun Bugoyne had exposed a failing in its tribunal guidelines.
Burgoyne, 37, is free to take on Richmond on Thursday night despite pinning Geelong superstar Patrick Dangerfield and dumping him in a dangerous sling tackle last Friday night.
But from Round 3 onwards match review officer Michael Christian will have the power to grade all dangerous tackles based on their potential to cause injury.
That means if Burgoyne’s tackle was repeated this weekend it would trigger a suspension.
Previously only spear tackles and driving tackles were punishable based on the potential to avoid injury, whereas the outcome — usually whether a player suffered concussion — and not the action governed sling tackles.
The fact that Dangerfield was able to free one arm, avoid injury and kept playing ultimately meant that Burgoyne avoided a suspension under the existing framework.
“We’ve acted swiftly,” football operations boss Steve Hocking said on Monday night.
“If you choose to lay a dangerous tackle it’s going to be captured under these new guidelines.
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“We want to be clear – protection to the head is our highest priority.
“We want all players at all levels and all age groups to understand these tackles shouldn’t be part of our game.”
Hocking and AFL general counsel Andrew Dillon made the recommendation at Monday morning’s review of Round 2.
Their recommendation was then ticked off by AFL boss Gillon McLachlan and ratified by the AFL Commission by 5pm.
Clubs were issued a memo detailing the changes last night, and the tougher stance will also be passed on to AFL Tribunal members.
Hocking said match review officer Michael Christian had “appropriately” sanctioned Burgoyne under the old framework, and the $500 fine will stand.
Christian graded Burgoyne’s rough conduct charge as careless conduct, low impact and high contact.
Under the new provisions Christian will have the power to upgrade the charge to medium impact, triggering at least a one-match suspension.
The AFL defended its reactive approach when asked why the crackdown was not implemented before the start of the season.
“What we do is we work through all things, we’re constantly reviewing,” Hocking said.
“You act when (a safety issue) comes up. If you choose to lay a dangerous tackle it’s going to be captured under these new guidelines.
“Moving forward we’re going to be a lot stronger on it.”
Dangerfield felt the tackle was adjudicated the “right way” by the umpire and MRO, empathizing with Burgoyne’s split second decision given his own suspension for a similar incident in 2017.
One of the hot favourites for the Brownlow that year, Dangerfield was ruled ineligible after copping a questionable suspension for a dangerous tackle on Carlton ruckman Matthew Kreuzer.
“From my perspective… it was probably adjudicated in the right way,” Dangerfield told Fox Footy’s On the Couch.
“I don’t think there was any malice in the tackle.”
“I’ve been in the same position as Shaun previously, so I know how it can happen.
While he recognises concussion and protecting the head is an important issue, Dangerfield said the balance between playing “on the edge” and player safety can be blurred.
“I absolutely get we need to protect the head but we expect a huge amount of players to play on instinct, to play on the edge to put on a good show, so in the position Shaun’s in we can replay this as much as we like and dissect it. But in a split second movement, you’re locking your head down to try and tackle your opponent and bring him down… it’s a lot to process,” Dangerfield said.
Asked if the AFLPA should have got involved, Dangerfield said there was no need.
“The AFL have made it extra clear today with their wordage around protecting of the head and the league take it really seriously so I don’t think there’s a need for the AFLPA to get involved,” he said.
Meanwhile, West Coast superstar Jeremy McGovern is set to appear in a remote tribunal hearing via Webex tonight as he fights to overturn a one-match suspension.
Tribunal hearings will be conducted remotely this year due to COVID-19.
McGovern was charged with striking Gold Coast’s Alex Sexton during the Eagles’ shock loss and coach Adam Simpson desperately wants his key defender available against Brisbane this week.
CONCUSSION EXPERT OUTRAGED OVER BURGOYNE SANCTION
Jon Ralph
Concussion expert Alan Pearce says the AFL missed a perfect chance to show it was serious about dangerous tackles.
Hawthorn veteran Shaun Burgoyne was fined for a “low-impact” tackle that even Hawks great Jason Dunstall said deserved suspension to show the league did not accept slinging tackles.
The AFL ruled it a low impact act because Patrick Dangerfield was not concussed, but the league had the chance to elevate it to a one-week suspension because of the capacity to cause serious injury.
Western Bulldog Will Hayes was suspended for a similar act in the Marsh Series for a tackle against Port Adelaide’s Dan Houston.
Neurophysiologist Pearce, who has conducted research for the AFL and helped launch Australia’s sporting brain bank, said the AFL’s message reverberated across the community.
“I was quite surprised to see Burgoyne not really get penalised for something quite dangerous,” he said.
“Those are the kinds of impact tackles that lead towards long-term brain damage. Dangerfield wasn’t concussed but they are the sort of heavy impacts we are so concerned about. Those sub concussive hits lead towards long-term chronic degenerative diseases like CTE, even more so than full concussions.
“This is an obvious example of rough play that can lead to long-term brain damage.”
“He’s been fined but it’s about changing behaviour and the attitude towards that sort of play.
“We don’t want to make the game soft, but it sends a message at club levels that you can emulate these sort of plays, that if the AFL players are doing it, we can.
“You don’t want junior players doing it because they have seen it at AFL level. It’s a message for all levels of football.”
AFL legend Graham “Polly” Farmer was diagnosed with CTE over summer which his family said was caused by repeated concussions.
In other match review verdicts from Friday night’s match, Geelong skipper Joel Selwood and Hawks midfielder Liam Shiels were both charged with striking for their first quarter scuffle and can accept $1000 fines with a guilty plea.
Hawthorn defender Sam Frost can also accept a $1000 sanction for striking Gary Ablett during the second quarter.
CATS’ AGEING STARS TURN BACK THE CLOCK
Lauren Wood
Now that was more like it.
Within 15 seconds, Cat Luke Dahlhaus was on the scoreboard and it looked on.
By the end of the first quarter, Geelong and Hawthorn had piled on just one goal less than the entire Thursday night draw.
Football’s greatest modern-day rivalry was on a new set, staged at GMHBA Stadium for the first time in 14 years, but all of the main roles were filled – just without the studio audience.
And the three leading men again stood tall as football returned to top billing, with a 61-point demolition the headline act.
Joel Selwood, Gary Ablett and Patrick Dangerfield – in his 250th game – showed that isolation had done little to quell their influence, while talls Rhys Stanley and Mark Blicavs served as reliable pillars.
No longer an understudy, rising talent Brandan Parfitt looked every bit out of lockdown and ready to launch with slick new cornrow-style braids for the Friday night lights.
The Cats’ training facility looked at times like it was being used for just that.
Their foot speed proved vital on a home deck that couldn’t have been further from Thursday night’s MCG dew-fest.
The Hawks, almost stagnant in the third quarter, could do little to stem the domination leaving Alastair Clarkson – who had a front-row seat to the pain at ground level – with a bit to do before they meet the Tigers next week.
The second-half pile-on was brutal, with the Cats taking a six-point lead at half-time to 10 goals by the final siren.
DON’T GO, GARY
It was declared to be the last dance.
But given the year has been completely remixed by coronavirus and set to a different tune, you’d have to think that Gary Ablett could play on into 2021.
“This is it,” he said when he re-signed at the end of last year.
“Next season, year #19, will be my last in the game.”
Friday night – his 347th game - marked some of the best that Ablett has to offer and to stay in Geelong in coming weeks with limited contact training amid COVID-19 protocols to only help his body further.
“I don’t think there has ever been a better finisher in the history of the game,” Matthew Lloyd declared on 3AW.
OH, BABY
Just 48 hours after welcoming daughter Sloane, Rhys Stanley marked his return to the Cats’ line-up with a bang.
Sorry, Darcy Fort.
Fort made way for Stanley for the team’s return to football and the tall made his presence felt early, having a hand in a raft of early goals including two of his own.
ANGER ZONE?
Two Hawks could be looked at by match review officer Michael Christian today.
Shaun Burgoyne appeared to have 250th-game Cat Patrick Dangerfield’s left arm pinned in a third-quarter tackle that
A free kick for a dangerous tackle was paid by Brett Rosebury on the spot, but expect it to be considered.
“Nah, I’m fine,” Dangerfield declared as he got to his feet.
High-flying Hawk Chad Wingard could also be under the microscope for his studs-up mark on Cat Tom Atkins.
It’s a rule that was tightened in the wake of Giant Toby Greene’s controversial style, the new Hawk had a free kick paid against him for the move.
Will Burgoyne get a week?
— 7AFL (@7AFL) June 12, 2020
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BEST
GEELONG: Stanley, Selwood, Ablett, Parfitt, Blicavs, Dangerfield
HAWTHORN: Mitchell, Worpel, Gunston, Scully, Sicily
VOTES
3 Rhys Stanley
2 Joel Selwood
1 Gary Ablett