Adelaide Crows player Shane McAdam given three-week ban

An Adelaide Crows player is set for an extended stint on the sidelines following a lengthy Tribunal hearing on Tuesday.

Adelaide's Shane McAdam late hit on Giants Jacob Wehr during the Round 1 AFL match between the GWS Giants and the Adelaide Crows at Giants Stadium on March 19, 2023. Photo by Phil Hillyard (Image Supplied for Editorial Use only - **NO ON SALES** - ©Phil Hillyard )

The bump looks to be officially dead.

Adelaide Crows player Shane McAdam has been slapped with a three-week ban for rough conduct.

McAdam attempted to contest his case after match review officer Michael Christian sent him directly through to the Tribunal.

McAdam ran through GWS Giants youngster Jacob Wehr, sending his head snapping back in a hit that could be heard around the stadium.

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The AFL argued on the basis of the potential of the bump to cause injury to the Giants player.

“In my submission there’s a clear election that is made in his mind to bump … I’d suggest a high degree of carelessness to allow impact as high as this was … it fell far below what a reasonable player would consider prudent in the circumstances,” Andrew Woods on behalf of the AFL said.

“There’s no ongoing injury … but there is a charge of severe (impact) because there is a potential to cause injury or an amount of force.

“There is a deliberate turning and launching of the body that speaks very much to the question of impact … it was a turning, a launching and a choice to bring the amount of force that was impacted on Wehr.”

McAdams’ representation responded saying the bump is still a legal motion within the laws of the game and that he had not made contact with the head of his opponent.

“You can talk about the fact he could’ve tackled him and welcomed him with open arms, but that’s not a decision that has to be made, it’s perfectly fine to bump in the AFL,” McAdam’s lawyer said.

“If McAdam’s shoulder made contact with the head of Wehr, the head would’ve gone backwards. That’s not what happens, it simply rests forward.

“This is clearly not a high bump because it doesn’t in any way involve the head.”

Unfortunately for McAdam the Tribunal upheld all aspects of the charge and handed down a three-week suspension.

Shane McAdam will likely be in strife for this incident.

Calls for the AFL to deliver heavy-handed punishments kicked off on Saturday after Kysaiah Pickett’s hit on Bailey Smith and only grew following Lance Franklin’s bump on Sam Collins.

Journalist Mark Robinson was scathing of the shots delivered by the three players over the weekend, labelling the hits as nothing other than “cheap shots”.

“They’re cheap shots, they’re sh*t shots actually. Kids sitting at home, don’t do that,” Robinson said on AFL 360.

“Footy’s a hard game, it’s a tough game to play.

“Jumping off the ground and hitting people who can’t protect themselves … it’s a bit cowardly actually.”

Kysaiah Pickett, Shane McAdam and Lance Franklin are all facing MRO scrutiny.

Former Collingwood skipper Scott Pendlebury weighed in over the ugly hits on Monday and said he’d back the league introducing a send-off system similar to the NRL.

“Watching the NRL and the stuff like that that happens, they get sin-binned and I don’t mind that for our players,” he said on Triple M.

“If Pickett was to get sin-binned, it’s a complete disadvantage and now you play 17 versus 18 for 10 minutes, then it’s 15 minutes and you go to whatever.

“Those non-football actions I think we really need to treat seriously and get that out of our game.”

Veteran AFL journalist Caroline Wilson however said it wasn’t the way forward.

“It is constructive debate but it is not the answer. It would just create a bureaucratic thicket for the AFL in terms of on field mistakes,” Wilson said on Nine News.

“We do not want to slow down again. Players need to be more responsible quite frankly. It is up to the coaches as well.

“And the AFL need to be more responsible as well coming down hard on players who break the rules. I think they were pretty soft on Lance Franklin and Kysaiah Pickett was lucky to only get two weeks.”