Ben Long appeal upheld at AFL tribunal, Saints star ruled out of semi-final with Richmond

St Kilda’s Ben Long is out of Friday’s showdown with Richmond after the AFL appeals board upheld his suspension for rough conduct.

Ben Long of the Saints and Lachie Hunter of the Bulldogs in action during the 2020 AFL Second Elimination Final.

Saints star Ben Long will miss Friday’s semi-final with Richmond after the AFL appeals board upheld his one-match ban for rough conduct.

St Kilda was reportedly thwarted from presenting one of its key arguments to the panel by a hearing technicality before the appeals board, made up of chairman Murray Kellam, Stephen Jurica and Wayne Henwood, ultimately sided with the AFL and match review officer Michael Christian.

During Saturday’s elimination final against the Western Bulldogs at the Gabba, Long put a late bump on Jack Macrae early in the first quarter.

Long collided with Macrae after a centre bounce, his shoulder making contact with the All-Australian’s head, who spun 360 degrees upon impact.

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“He’s very lucky Macrae got back up. That’s MRO otherwise,” three-time premiership player Jimmy Bartel said on Channel 7.

“Impact is one of the boxes that needs to be ticked, and the fact Macrae got back up and kept playing (should help).”

On Sunday, the 23-year-old was charged by the MRO with “engaging in rough conduct”, and the incident was assessed as “careless conduct, medium impact and high contact”.

St Kilda took the decision to the AFL Tribunal, arguing the bump’s “impact” should be downgraded from medium to low. If the change was implemented, Long would just cop a fine and be available for Friday evening’s match on the Gold Coast.

Ben Long of the Saints looks to clear as he is tackled.

But after half an hour of deliberation on Monday evening, the AFL Tribunal upheld the initial sanction.

The appeals board deliberated for even longer on Wednesday night before announcing St Kilda’s appeal had been unsuccessful.

“Given the degree of force, the degree of head impact, the momentum of the player Long, all of which the jury were entitled to find were clearly established by the video, we consider that no error of law has been identified in the findings of the jury,” the AFL appeals board concluded.

The Age reports the Saints’ attempt to present new evidence from a biomechanical was shut down by the appeals panel because the evidence was not submitted in the original tribunal case.

Journalist Daniel Cherny reported the Saints and the club’s legal representative Jack Rush QC was further derailed when preliminary statements caught them off guard.

“We had absolutely no opportunity to address that jury finding,” Rush said, according to Cherny.

“If something had alerted us to such a finding, we could have taken appropriate action.”

Earlier this year, Long copped a three-match suspension after a bump on Sean Darcy left the Fremantle ruckman concussed.

St Kilda will take on the reigning premiers at Metricon Stadium on Friday evening for a spot in the preliminary finals. Paddy Ryder and Jake Carlisle will also be unavailable for the must-win fixture due to injury and family respectively.