MRO News: Griffin Logue and Blake Acres one-week bans upheld

The AFL tribunal have reinforced the AFL’s stance on head-high hits, meaning two former Dockers will miss the Good Friday matchup between North Melbourne and Carlton.

Blake Acres has been banned for one match. Picture: Mark Kolbe/Getty Images

The AFL tribunal has doubled down on its stance on high bumps it believes have potential to cause harm after upholding a pair of rough conduct bans.

North Melbourne defender Griffin Logue and Carlton wingman Blake Acres on Tuesday night lost appeals to their one-game suspensions, meaning they will miss their teams’ Good Friday clash at Marvel Stadium.

While the opponents involved escaped injury and both clubs argued their clients did not intend to bump, the tribunal found the duo’s actions to be unreasonable in the circumstances.

The decisions help reinforce the league’s crackdown on headhigh bumps amid heightened scrutiny on concussion.

Logue will miss North’s clash against Carlton. Picture: Getty Images

Match review officer Michael Christian had deemed both incidents to be careless conduct, medium impact and high contact.

Logue’s case was heard first and North Melbourne argued his collision with Hawthorn’s Will Day in Launceston last Saturday was “quintessentially a football act”, highlighting that a free kick was not paid and Hawks players did not remonstrate.

“It’s a textbook approach to a loose ball coming out of the backline and it was read that way by the umpires,” Kangaroos counsel Ben Ihle KC said.

“(Logue’s action) was not unreasonable in any material respect and all of that in fractions of a second.”

Logue said his eyes were never fixated on Day because his sole focus was on winning the footy.

The former Docker said Day appeared late in his peripheral vision.

“I attempted to slow down and try to secure the ball,” Logue said.

AFL counsel Nick Pane KC said Logue had tucked in his arm and launched at Day.

“The fact that there’s no attempt to reach down for the ball and then the shaping of the body makes it inconsistent with the inevitable collision theory,” Pane said.

“Logue must be aware of Day’s position and that he’s open and vulnerable.”

The tribunal ultimately decided Logue should have got lower to the ball and closer to it with his hands.

Blake Acres lost his appeal. Picture: Getty Images

As for Acres’s collision with Brent Daniels at Giants Stadium on Saturday, the tribunal believed it had potential to cause more serious injury to the GWS goalsneak.

Carlton representative Peter O’Farrell argued the impact was low or negligible and primarily to the body, while Acres said he tried to avoid contact due to a pectoral injury.

The new Blue insisted he ran at Daniels looking to corral before attempting to smother the ball, then bracing with his arm tucked in and falling into him after running into his leg.

“In slow motion it might look clumsy or awkward, but this can’t be described as anything other than a football incident,” O’Farrell said.

Pane said Daniels was open and vulnerable, having already kicked the football.

“(Acres) certainly could have avoided making contact in the manner that he did,” Pane said.

Tribunal chairman Jeff Gleeson KC said though Acres might have attempted to smother at one point, that was not his intention just prior to or at the moment of impact.

Originally published as MRO News: Griffin Logue and Blake Acres one-week bans upheld