Melbourne appeals Jack Viney suspension as AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou says bump rule ‘has gone too far’

VOTE AND HAVE YOUR SAY: AFL boss Andrew Demetriou admits Melbourne’s Jack Viney was “unlucky” as the Demons prepare to appeal the midfielder’s two-match ban.

MELBOURNE will appeal the AFL Tribunal’s verdict to suspend Jack Viney for two matches.

Viney was found guilty of rough conduct on Tuesday night.

The club will be appealing on the grounds that “that the decision was so unreasonable, that no Tribunal acting reasonably could have come to that decision having regard to the evidence before it”.

The appeal will be heard on Thursday night.

If the appeal is successful, it means Viney will be eligible to play in Melbourne’s next two matches against the Western Bulldogs and Richmond.

ANDO: TIME TO DITCH TRIBUNAL SYSTEM

ROBBO: THE GAME IS THE FOOL

#VINEY: TWITTER MELTDOWN AFTER DECISION

The decision has prompted outrage and confusion in the AFL world, with Carlton coach Mick Malthouse says he is “bamboozled” about the status of the bump and league CEO Andrew Demetriou admitting the crackdown on head-high contact may have gone too far.

And the AFL Players Association says the decision to ban Viney has sent a message of uncertainty to players which has the potential to increase the risk of injury.

Demetriou said on 3AW Viney was “unlucky”.

GLENN’S 10: THE BIGGEST BUMPS OF VFL-AFL HISTORY

TITUS O’REILLY: AUSTRALIA HAS LOST ITS WAY

He said any changes to the rules were a matter for his successor Gillon McLachlan and AFL football operations manager Mark Evans, “but I think there is potentially an argument to say in an attempt to address the issue of Lindsay Thomas that the rule has perhaps gone to far.”

Malthouse said Viney had no chance to avoid contact with Adelaide’s Tom Lynch.

“He definitely had eyes for the ball. He was in line with the ball, you don’t run around the football, and he braced himself for contact.

“He saw that it was going to happen, he braced himself and contact was made to him.

“The only option was to stand his ground

“I think we are all totally bamboozled by this.”

The Blues coach told Adelaide radio station FIVEaa players were taught from juniors to protect themselves.

He said the Viney decision could fundamentally change “a game that has been predominately a contact sport for over 100 years.

“There’s only one way out of this and it starts at five-year-old Auskick, that right now they’re not allowed to tackle but they’re allowed to bump,” Malthouse said.

“We have to teach our footballers at five to say no, you can’t bump, and it’s not disgraceful to actually jump out the way.”

LISTEN TO THE MALTHOUSE INTERVIEW IN FULL BELOW

Port Adelaide star Chad Wingard has backed the decision, saying the AFL is trying to protect player’s welfare.

But AFLPA chief executive Ian Prendergast said he thought the AFL Tribunal’s decision to ban Viney for two matches was wrong and went against a player’s instinct to protect himself.

Asked if he believed the tribunal got it right, Prendergast said: “I don’t think they did.”

He said the AFLPA had supported and encouraged measures introduced to protect players against serious head clashes, but thinks on this occasion the lawmakers might have gone too far.

“I think last night’s decision has caused a fair bit of uncertainty amongst the players, just regarding their ability to brace themselves in the contest,” Prendergast told SEN.

“It’s important from our point of view to also have a form of protection given the nature of our game and it just doesn’t feel right, that decision.

“We’re concerned that the uncertainty potentially leads to the wrong message being sent to players in that they can’t protect themselves in the contest and therefore could even increase the risk of players receiving head injuries.”

Prendergast said the Viney matter was now a case for the Demons — via an appeal — or AFL football operations manager Mark Evans, but the players association would likely have a say at some point.

“Our main involvement is through the Laws of the Game process ... I certainly think that this decision is not in the spirit of what we feel like we’ve agreed to through the Laws of the Game process,” he said.

“Certainly if this is going to be considered a bump, then any act where a player is protecting himself would be defined in that way.

“And even if it was considered that way by the Tribunal, I don’t think he did have any other realistic alternative, so that’s why this confusion is not going to help in my view and hopefully (it is) rectified through an appeal so this balance position can be restored.”

Last night the AFL Tribunal suspended Viney for two matches after finding him guilty of rough conduct.

Adelaide’s Tom Lynch suffered a broken jaw when he was sandwiched in a collision between the oncoming Viney and Demons defender Alex Georgiou in the first quarter of Saturday’s game at Adelaide Oval.

Lynch is set to miss six weeks of football as a result of the incident, but Viney, via player advocate Iain Findlay, pleaded “most certainly not guilty” to the rough conduct charge.

Viney said he initially felt he had “a reasonable opportunity to win the football”, but then changed tack once Lynch got to the ball first.

“Not at any stage was I trying to bump him, I was just trying to brace for impact,” Viney said during the hearing.

However, after a 71-minute hearing at Etihad Stadium, it took the three-man jury of Wayne Henwood, Emmett Dunne and Wayne Schimmelbusch 17 minutes to come to a guilty verdict.

The 20-year-old’s conduct was assessed as negligent and the level of impact came back as medium, meaning he was assigned 200 demerit points which results in a two-match suspension with no carry-over points.

Current players — including many of Viney’s teammates — and former stars were quick to criticise the outcome.

Hawthorn champion Dermott Brereton even said he would not attend this year’s AFL Hall of Fame function as a protest for a decision he described as “fundamentally wrong”.

Viney will miss games against the Western Bulldogs (Saturday night) and Richmond (May 17).

“We felt that we had a very strong defence and we felt that we had every chance to present that,” Melbourne football manager Josh Mahoney said last night,

“When we sat down and saw this charge earlier in the week ... we thought we had a strong defence and that’s why (coach) Paul Roos was here today to help that defence.

“So we thought it was a strong enough defence, but that was the decision of the tribunal.”

Mahoney said the club would investigate avenues of appeal.

But it is understood that any appeal may be in vain as there was only one point in question last night, whether or not Viney bumped Lynch, and the tribunal decided that he had.

Findlay was able to call upon Georgiou to give evidence, but his request to also call coach Roos to the stand failed.

Georgiou said he trailed Lynch into the centre square and when his opponent took possession of the ball he tackled him and dropped his legs in an attempt to bring him to the ground.

Georgiou said it was the momentum of he and Lynch which took them in to a “stationary” Viney.

Viney said: “I felt like I had a reasonable opportunity to win the football, so I took off after the footy.

Viney leaves the tribunal flanked by player advocate Iain Findlay and teammate Alex Geogiou. Picture: Michael Klein

“There was a point in time when the ball could have bounced my way ... but the moment that it bounced in Tom’s favour I pivoted on my right foot ... and braced myself for impact once I saw Georgiou and Lynch running at full pace towards me.”

AFL legal counsel Jeff Gleeson said it was up to the interpretation of the three-man jury as to whether or not Viney voluntarily and intentionally bumped Lynch, but if they deemed that he did so then he argued that Viney must be suspended due to the injury suffered by Lynch.

Demons players vented their frustrations on Twitter.

Jack Trengove simply tweeted “interesting”, Cam Pedersen said “So apparently we should all step aside and have no contact in football” and Tom McDonald said of the tribunal “Well they haven’t played footy before then ...”

Speaking on SEN radio, Brereton said: “I am staggered ... I don’t know how to feel about this, I’m really disappointed by this.

“As a little bit of a protest against this and going against the grain of the game I’m in the Hall of Fame, I love going to those functions, for a start I’m not going to turn up to that, that can get stuffed this year, I’m not doing anything for them, I’m not turning up to their functions because this is just fundamentally wrong.”

As a result of already suffering three concussions and a broken jaw in his 18-game AFL career, Findlay said Viney had been coached how to better manoeuvre his body prior to collisions in order to avoid suffering further injuries.

Originally published as Melbourne appeals Jack Viney suspension as AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou says bump rule ‘has gone too far’