The five-game ban handed to Port Adelaide star Dan Houston for a bump on Crow Izak Rankine has been upheld

Port Adelaide appealed Dan Houston’s ban on the basis there was ‘an error of law’, before disputing the contact using a bizarre ‘paint can’ argument. Here’s how it played out.

ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA – AUGUST 17: Izak Rankine of the Crows is knocked out by a late hit from Dan Houston of the Power during the round 23 AFL match between Port Adelaide Power and Adelaide Crows at Adelaide Oval, on August 17, 2024, in Adelaide, Australia. (Photo by Mark Brake/Getty Images)

Port Adelaide defender Dan Houston may have played his last game for the club after an appeal to a five-match suspension was thrown out on Thursday night.

The Power appealed the AFL Tribunal’s original decision on Tuesday, on the basis that there was “an error of law” in the case and the penalty was “manifestly excessive”.

However, after deliberating for 17 minutes, the Appeal Board found standard processes had been followed and the penalty handed down was within the range of other cases this year.

Port Adelaide’s legal team again put forward that a three-match ban was the correct penalty for Houston, arguing over the point of contact of Houston’s bump on Adelaide’s Izak Rankine during last weekend’s Showdown.

The Power submitted still shots of video footage and slow-motion behind-the-goals vision which it claimed showed that Houston had not made contact to the “head, neck (or) top of the shoulder” of Rankine.

Dan Houston’s five-game ban for this bump on Izak Rankine has been upheld. Picture: James Elsby/AFL Photos via Getty Images

The club used a bizarre “paint can” analogy in trying to argue that Houston had not made contact to the top of Rankine’s shoulder but the impact instead occurred marginally lower than that.

“If you look at a paint can … the lid is the top of the paint can,” the Power argued.

“I open up my jar of Vegemite in the morning, the lid’s the top. It’s the roof.”

The Power pointed to other cases this season where players had made clear high contact and were only suspended for four matches, including Sam Powell-Pepper (pre-season), Peter Wright (round two) and Rankine (round 17).

They also argued that Houston should have received a discount on any sanction on the basis of his “exemplary record”, having played 186 senior games across the AFL and SANFL for only one $1500 fine.

To that point, the case of Brisbane Lions forward Charlie Cameron was raised, with Cameron having a one-match suspension for a dangerous tackle on Melbourne’s Jake Lever downgraded to a fine in April.

That decision was made in part on the basis of Cameron’s “exemplary record and character”.

“Within the very same season, Mr Houston ought to receive the same benefit from his exemplary record as Mr Cameron did for his less exemplary record,” Port Adelaide’s team said.

Port Adelaide failed in its attempt to overturn the suspension on Thursday night. Picture: Mark Brake

However, the AFL countered that St Kilda defender Jimmy Webster had been handed a seven-match suspension for a bump earlier this year which meant Houston’s ban was “not manifestly excessive”, adding that Cameron’s downgrade was a very rare case.

AFL Appeal Board chairperson Will Houghton KC concluded that there had not been “any error of law” by the Tribunal, rejected claims there had been an issue with “procedural fairness” and dismissed grounds for an appeal over suggestions that there was not “forceful high contact” made to Rankine.

It was also noted that Webster’s seven-match ban meant Houston’s suspension was “not plainly outside the range of sentences available” to the AFL Tribunal and it could not be said that Houston’s good record was not given “proper consideration” during the original sentencing.

With just one round remaining in the home-and-away season, Houston’s suspension means he will not play again this year.

While he is contracted to the Power until the end of 2028, the 27-year-old is being strongly chased by Victorian clubs to return home.

Houston joins an infamous list of suspended players to miss finals in the modern era.

The list of players to miss grand finals due to suspension includes Jason Cloke (2002), Anthony Rocca (2003) and Andrew Gaff (2018), a fate Houston is facing even if the Power features in every week of this year’s finals series.

Cloke was given a two-game ban for striking Tyson Edwards, while Rocca missed the 2003 decider — which Collingwood lost by 50 points — for a strike on Brendon Lade.

Gaff missed out on West Coast’s victory over Collingwood as he was serving an eight-match ban for his infamous punch on Andrew Brayshaw.

Houston told the tribunal on Tuesday the prospect of missing a Grand Final would be devastating: “I’ve played in many finals, but never in a grand final. Losing the opportunity to play in a grand final would be crushing to me,” he said.

Originally published as The five-game ban handed to Port Adelaide star Dan Houston for a bump on Crow Izak Rankine has been upheld