AFL players should go on strike over Jack Viney’s two-match suspension, says Crows great Mark Ricciuto

MARK Ricciuto says players should strike on Friday night if the AFL throws out Melbourne’s appeal against Jack Viney’s suspension. Have your say. VOTE NOW.

BROWNLOW Medallist Mark Ricciuto says players should strike on Friday night if the AFL throws out Melbourne’s appeal against Jack Viney’s two-game suspension.

Ricciuto has called on Sydney and Hawthorn players to “sit on their bum” in protest at the Friday night blockbuster if the Dees lose their appeal on Thursday night.

“This ruling on Jack Viney needs to be overturned and the actual rule itself needs to be rewritten so that (players) are not getting suspended,” Ricciuto said.

“And I reckon they (the AFL) have got ’til the end of the week to do it, and if they don’t do it they (the players) should strike on Friday night.

“I would sit down on my bum on the field. Sydney and Hawthorn should sit on their bum at the first bounce and strike.”

Ricciuto’s call on Triple M radio was the latest in a wave of uproar following the AFL tribunal’s decision to suspend Viney for two weeks for a bump that resulted in Adelaide forward Tom Lynch suffering a broken jaw during the Crows’ three-point defeat to the Demons on Saturday.

The three-man tribunal panel found Viney guilty of rough conduct, classifying the incident as negligent conduct, high contact and medium impact.

The case was viewed as a watershed test of football’s endangered bump, with players, former players and fans fearing the death of heavy body-on-body contact.

Ricciuto’s key concern with Viney’s suspension — following the similarly controversial outing of Fremantle’s Nat Fyfe for a round-three bump on Gold Coast’s Michael Rischitelli — was that the AFL’s newly updated rules on bumping were fundamentally wrong.

“So many people are frustrated with where the game is going that the AFL needs to know how serious everyone is about it,” Ricciuto said.

“I don’t think I’m out of line. I’ve seen so many people talking about it overnight, talking about this for weeks. It takes until a decision like this occurs before something has to change. It’s got to change.”

AFL Players Association president and Collingwood midfielder Luke Ball recognised fan and player frustration, but said it was unlikely Ricciuto’s call for an on-field sit-down would eventuate.

“We don’t want to strike,” Ball said on Triple M.

“That would be a poor result to come out of it all, if it annoyed and frustrated people to the extent that they stopped supporting the game or didn’t turn up.

“Hopefully we won’t get to that situation and (tonight’s) ruling will support that.

“That’s a risk the AFL would not want to take, and the players as well.”

Originally published as AFL players should go on strike over Jack Viney’s two-match suspension, says Crows great Mark Ricciuto