AFL: Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge is ‘hoping like hell’ Adelaide veteran David Mackay isn’t suspended

A test case at the AFL tribunal could shape the way the game is played. One premiership coach has a strong view about what should happen.

Hunter Clark was left with a broken jaw after his collision with Adelaide’s David Mackay. Picture: Albert Perez/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge is “hoping like hell” Adelaide veteran David Mackay isn’t suspended by the AFL tribunal, declaring this year’s premiers will be the team that maintains the most “venom” at contests.

Mackay was sent straight to the tribunal, without being charged by the match review panel, after a heavy collision with Hunter Clark last weekend in Cairns left the St Kilda on-baller with a broken jaw.

There are fears a suspension for Mackay, who was contesting the ball after hitting the contest at high speed, could change the game forever.

Beveridge said he “absolutely” felt for Clark, who won’t play again this season, but “collateral damage” from contests was part of the game.

But the 2016 premiership-winning coach said the team that won this year’s AFL title would be the one that didn’t “regulate their venom and aggression” at the ball.

The more I see the David Mackay incident the more I see how deluded some commentators are. Why would anyone want him suspended? The ball is right there in dispute for crying out loud. #AFL#AFL360

— Samuel Power (@SamuelPower68) June 16, 2021

To that end he said he would continue to coach his players to attack each contest “as hard as they can”.

“I’ve got a pretty simple view. If a ball is being contested in the game, the question is asked, ‘Is the player’s priority focus to contest and win the footy?’ If, on the balance of probabilities, that’s yes, well play on,” Beveridge said on Thursday.

“You’d have to say David Mackay was doing that. His sole focus was the ball and he went 100 miles an hour, there’s no doubt about that

“Do we feel for Hunter Clark? Absolutely. But we are always going to have casualties in our game. We can protect the head as much as we like, but the game is a 360 degree collision game. We will have casualties, we have to accept that. It’s not nice, but it’s going to happen.

“You have to allow players to go 100 miles an hour at the ball no matter what. The coaches will coach it. We will still encourage our players to go as hard as they can at the footy.

"Why did Mackay turn his shoulder?"

Ross Lyon and @matthewlloyd18 are split over the David Mackay debate and whether it changes the essence of the game.#9FootyClassified | Watch @Channel9pic.twitter.com/tQvCADrLoZ

— Footy on Nine (@FootyonNine) June 16, 2021

“The team that steps up on the (premiership) dais at the end of the year won’t be the team that is coached to regulate their venom and aggression at the ball. If there’s any collateral damage, that’s just the way the game is played.

Beveridge said the AFL needed to “declutter” the tribunal’s approach to such contests so players had clarity.

“I am just hoping like hell that he gets off and we can move on,” he said.

North Melbourne coach David Noble said the decision could tilt what was considered a “football incident” and have significant on-field implications.

“There’s a been a lot of discussion around that being a footy incident. I think where it may land, that might be redefined. It may be shifting. It sounds like it’s well and truly shifting,” Noble said.

“The difficulty is if it shifts now, it’s halfway through the season and it’s hard to manage and coach players through that for the rest of the year, particularly teams that are in finals.

“I think we are all waiting with bated breath to see where it lands and what those implications are.”