West Coast Eagles apologise, delete post after Jordan de Goey sent to AFL Tribunal

The West Coast Eagles have quickly deleted a social media upload following Collingwood star Jordan De Goey’s “weak” act.

PERTH, AUSTRALIA – JUNE 03: Jordan De Goey of the Magpies bumps Elijah Hewett of the Eagles during the round 12 AFL match between West Coast Eagles and Collingwood Magpies at Optus Stadium, on June 03, 2023, in Perth, Australia. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

Jordan de Goey has a date with the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday after the Collingwood star was directed straight through by Match Review Officer Michael Christian.

The Pies star left his feet and elected to bump West Coast’s Elijah Hewett, collecting him in the head and ruling him out for the entire game with concussion.

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Pundits quickly began to speculate just how long the hit would see De Goey spend on the sidelines.

The hit was graded as careless, severe impact and high contact. Rulings which result in a recommended sanction of at least three matches.

Eagles player Dom Sheed was scathing in his assessment of the hit, calling for the star to be rubbed out for at least a month.

“I actually didn’t see it (at the time). I kept looking at the big screen and kept missing it. But I heard it was pretty bad. The boys probably didn’t respond the way we should’ve when that happened,” Sheed told 6PR Football.

“But watching it back now, I think he deserves a good month or two on the sidelines.”

But it was on Sunday night after the incident was referred directly to the Tribunal that caught footy fans attention.

A post on Instagram by the West Coast Eagles, which was deleted shortly after, saw them upload a photo of the hit with the caption: “straight to the tribunal”.

On Twitter, the Eagles also shared the news De Goey had been sent to the Tribunal, a surprising move for a rival club.

On Monday afternoon, West Coast apologised for the posts.

The club wishes to apologise for referencing the pending AFL tribunal appearance of Collingwood’s Jordan De Goey.

— West Coast Eagles (@WestCoastEagles) June 5, 2023

West Coast's deleted Insta post

Jordan De Goey is in trouble for this.

Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley took issue with the Eagles post and also hit back at Sheed’s response, saying it didn’t require remonstration as it was a “football act”.

“What are West Coast tweeting about Jordy De Goey (going to the Tribunal)? It’s none of their business,” Buckley said on SEN.

“And Dom Sheed saying: ‘I’ve now seen the vision and maybe we should’ve stood up for him.’ None of the players stood up because it wasn’t seen as anything outside of a football act.

“Otherwise his teammates would’ve got over and remonstrated.”

Buckley clashed live on air in a frosty debate with former Port Adelaide star Kane Cornes after Cornes labelled the hit a “weak act”.

“(De Goey) definitely deserves to be up at Tribunal and he’ll get the weeks that he deserves. For mine it’s a three, but I think the reaction post this incident has been over the top,” Buckley said.

“I thought it was a football action, it was an instinctive football action. It’s one not accepted in the game now. There was no raised elbows or real jumping off the ground.

“You (Cornes) made a comment about you thought it was ‘weak.’ Yeah, nah, I don’t agree with you at all.”

Cornes also said earlier on Sunday that De Goey was throwing away another season as he highlight his off-field issues by stating he: “Really struggles to go a full season without having a mishap.”

It was those remarks that didn’t sit well with Buckley.

“There was stuff you tried to wrap in about his off-field misdemeanours … you’re judging that every player needs to have a certain level of professionalism and understanding of what it takes to be an AFL footballer,” Buckley added.

“You compared him to (Marcus) Bontempelli. If you compare him to some players who have the same class of talent … that’s only one part of performance.

“There’s different upbringings, there’s different ways of seeing the world and different motivations that come to play to pull the final package together.

“But all of that is separate to what happened on the field with Jordy De Goey. That was a knee jerk, instant and blink of an eye outcome. I don’t reckon five metres before that he was thinking he was going to iron the kid out. I’m thinking he was thinking he was going to go in and tackle him.”

De Goey is set for an extended holiday. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

Hewett had to be helped from the field. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

Cornes said the former coach was “being extremely lenient,” saying De Goey had other options than bumping Hewett.

“This guy (De Goey) is a skilful player who can turn on a dime, pick the ball up and snap it over his shoulder and we go: ‘How good’s that?’” Cornes said on SEN.

“In the moment, he’s got options – he can tackle and he can corral. (It was) A defenceless player who’s gotten rid of the ball and he jumps off the ground and smashes his shoulder into his head.”

Buckley added: “He’s not a defenceless player, he’s a footballer on an AFL field,” to which Cornes replied: “He’s an 18-year old kid who got rid of the footy and wasn’t expecting to be bumped in the head in that moment.”

Buckley continued: “You reckon Jordy had time to calculate he’s an 18-year old kid? You’re on a football field, you should be expecting contact.

“You tried to wrap up the fact that Jordy shouldn’t have had that contest against that opposition because their lowly ranked.

“It’s not going to be part of the calculation. As a coach, I want my players to go out and play on edge all the time. A guy like Jordy De Goey, who’s a physical beast and does play on the edge and with aggression.

“The way you played and what you think is weak, would be different to what he thinks was weak.”

De Goey’s Tribunal case will be heard on Tuesday night starting from 4pm (AEST).