AFL 2020: Richmond star Tom Lynch’s cheap shot should be punished

The AFL has announced Richmond star Tom Lynch has been hit with a wet lettuce leaf after getting off his “cheap shot” with impunity.

Tom Lynch gives Alex Witherden a whack.

Richmond star Tom Lynch has escaped with a slap on the wrist for his “cheap shot” to the back of the head of Brisbane Lions star Alex Witherden.

St Kilda great Nick Riewoldt earlier called on the AFL player fraternity to come together and agree to stamp out the type of cheap shots Lynch committed on Tuesday night.

After tackling the Lions defender as he attempted to kick the ball out of defence in Tuesday night’s game, Lynch delivered an exclamation point to the back of Witherden’s dome.

It was a forceful blow with an open hand to a player laying flat on his stomach that couldn’t see it coming and should see the Richmond spearhead draw the attention of the AFL’s match review officer.

The AFL, however, on Wednesday announced Lynch’s shove is only worthy of a $500 fine.

Lynch is charged with misconduct after the incident was seen by the AFL Match Review to fall short of a striking charge.

The incident was classified as a $750 sanction as a first offence.

Lynch can accept a $500 fine with an early guilty plea.

Brisbane defender Harris Andrews has also been charged with Rough Conduct for a dangerous tackle against Lynch.

The tackle was graded low impact, but high contact. Andrews can accept a $1000 sanction with an early plea.

Port Adelaide legend Warren Tredrea on Wednesday said a fine for Lynch was a fair punishment after backflipping on an early call for the star forward to be suspended for a week.

“When I saw it last night in the flesh, I thought, ‘That’s a week’. Because it’s clearly intentional, it’s clearly high, but it’s minimal contact,” Tredrea told Channel 9.

“So you’d think that sits on a week, but it is open hand. So I’d suggest he gets a fine.

I think the AFL has a great chance to stamp this out.”

"The AFL has a great opportunity to stamp that out."@warrentredrea believes Tom Lynch deserves a fine for his strike last night, but @sam_mcclure believes it's worth a suspension.

Watch 'Talk of the Town' 👉https://t.co/80w4JceBNu pic.twitter.com/EV9w2KwlsR

— Footy on Nine (@FootyonNine) August 5, 2020

Footy legend Garry Lyon attempted to play the Lynch incident down in commentary, saying “I thought that was a little rabbity but there’s nothing in that, that’s just a reminder you’ve got to get rid of the ball quicker than that, son”.

But Riewoldt, while not calling for a suspension, said the action needed to be rubbed out of footy.

“I think it’s got to be down to the players as a fraternity to come together and get rid of that stuff that’s crept in,” Riewoldt said on Fox Footy.

“I don’t think it does anyone any favours. It doesn’t look good for Tom Lynch, it doesn’t look good for the game.”

Should this incident involving Tom Lynch be looked at by the MRO?#AFLTigersLions

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— SEN 1116 (@1116sen) August 4, 2020

Fox Footy reporter Tom Morris said Lynch “probably gets a week for this” labelling the blow intentional and high contact but low impact.

Fellow footy journo Mark Gottlieb declared “it’s a rubbish look”. “Pretty piss-weak from a gun player,” he tweeted.

But SEN’s Gerard Whateley said it didn’t constitute a strike. “It’s a dud act, but it’s not actually a reportable offence. What would it be?” he said.

“It’s a miserable push to the back of the head, but it’s not a strike.”

Richmond coach Damien Hardwick was thrilled with his key forward’s form as he kicked three goals in the 41-point win.

Hardwick said Lynch was at this best when he played with an edge. “It is when he plays his best footy when he is physical,” he said.

“It is funny for a guy who is so nice off the field he is quite aggressive and that was probably the first thing I realised when I first saw him play.

“The way he hits the ball, the way he hits the contest … he has his mojo back which is great.”

The Lions were made to rue wasteful kicking in front of goal in the 12.10 (82) to 4.17 (41) defeat which saw the Tigers draw within half a game of the Lions in third spot.

None was worse than Sam Skinner’s attempted dribble kick from 15m out straight in front that he slid wide.

“It is sort of embarrassing that I have to answer this question because you guys will assess it and go well there is something going wrong,” Lions coach Chris Fagan said of his team’s goal kicking.

“We practice and practice and practice and practice and practice and practice I can tell you that right now.

“At training we kick quite accurately and we try to do it when they are fatigued and all those sort of things you do.

“We follow all the basics of good goal kicking practice, but it didn’t show... it seems to happen against Richmond.”