Blues bounce back in an MCG thriller, but incident involving May gets footy world talking

The AFL’s match review system faces one of its toughest-ever tests following a brutal Steven May bump that left Carlton forward Francis Evans with concussion, a split nose and a lost tooth on Saturday night.

The sickening collision came late in the third term of Carlton’s eight-point win over Melbourne at the MCG – 12.6 (78) to 10.10 (70) – ending a four-game losing streak for Blues coach Michael Voss.

Steven May could be in real strife for this incident with Francis Evans.Credit: Fox Footy

But as the Blues celebrate a change of fortune and a much-needed win, all eyes will turn to the MRO on Sunday for a ruling on the May hit.

While the outcome was devastating for the 40-gamer Evans, who was immediately ruled out of the game, May appeared to have every intention of going for the ball.

He was charging out from full-back as Evans chased a loose ball into Carlton’s forward line when they collided, May’s right shoulder collecting Evans’ face and sending him tumbling to the ground.

Carlton forward Ashton Moir converted a goal from the resulting free kick – one of his four goals for the night – to hand the Blues a valuable 10-point lead at the time.

May was later concussed in a separate incident, copping a knock to the head when Tom De Koning took a spectacular mark over a pack of players in the last quarter, meaning he will have to miss next Sunday’s clash against St Kilda.

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin defended May after the game, saying the full-back’s intent was to get the ball when he bumped the Carlton forward.

“It’s really unfortunate,” Goodwin said. “You get a concussion in the game, and sometimes you can be concussed without being reported, and it’s going to be one of those ones that will have to go through the process.

“But if you just look at his pure intent, it was purely for the ball.

Ashton Moir was superb for Carlton.Credit: Getty Images

“And in the end, he [May] has walked away with a concussion, himself, late in the game with a knee in a marking contest.”

Goodwin said May had also had to leave the ground momentarily after the Evans clash because of the blood rule.

“He just said, ‘I didn’t even have any other option [in the Evans incident]. I was going for the ball.’ Those were his comments as he came to the bench. Like, he was as surprised as anyone.”

Fox Footy commentator Nathan Buckley said even though the incident happened in a split-second and May would have thought “he was going to go and win that football”, he was not sure “our game can allow that anymore”.

“We are trying to legislate that outcome, not the intent, but that outcome [out of the game],” Buckley said.

Blues coach Michael Voss was reluctant to lay blame on May after the match, even though he said the action was “clearly going to get looked at” by the match review officer.

“Both players were in line with the ball,” Voss said.

“They seemed to be attacking it, to be fair, if I’m being brutally honest, and both sort of making a play at the ball.

“Maybe one person was one step late, which obviously... then the incident happens.

“I don’t tend to read too much into it at this point in time. [I’ll] let the tribunal take care of it, really. I mean, it’s up to them to be able to adjudicate what they think is fair.”

Speaking to Triple M radio after the game, Carlton’s Zac Williams said May had apologised to Evans for his part in the incident.

Clayton Oliver (centre) was chaired off after his 200th game by Christian Petracca (left) and Christian Salem (right).Credit: Getty Images

“I think I was running [in the] corridor, calling for the handball, to be honest,” Williams said.

“I haven’t seen the replay or anything, I only saw it in real-time, and Maysy unfortunately clipped him in the head.

“Maysy came up after it all happened and apologised to him and checked in on him, which is what you want to see when something like that happens.

“It was very unfortunate, and I guess that’ll just get dealt with next week.”

The Evans hit overshadowed what was an entertaining game from two sides who have struggled all year.

Carlton crept ahead to an eight-point lead at quarter time thanks to two Charlie Curnow goals, the first in the opening 36 seconds was his first in 35 days, and then stretched the margin to 19 points at the long break.

Goodwin blamed the slow start for Melbourne’s loss, saying “we didn’t win the game because we didn’t start the game with the right intensity”.

The Blues would be rapt with the potential of talented youngster Moir, who booted four for the night – two in the second quarter, and three by half-time.

But Melbourne kept surging back through the brilliance of Kysaiah Pickett, who booted two sensational goals at the start of the third term – one a 40-metre snap from the pocket after taking a mark, the other a 35-metre check-side from the opposite boundary after another mark.

Melbourne fought to within 10 points at three-quarter-time but could only reduce that margin to eight points by the game’s end.

A hard-working Curnow bobbed up to kick the sealer to bring up his third two minutes before the final siren.

Pickett finished with five for the night, and was the game’s most influential player.

Clayton Oliver celebrated his 200th game for the Demons with a head-to-head match-up on Blues skipper Patrick Cripps. Both were influential. Cripps had 29 disposals for the night, while Oliver had 26.

Melbourne dominated possession (384 to 305) and led the inside 50s across the four quarters (58 to 50) but once again could not find enough successful avenues forward against Jacob Weitering and a stable Blues defence.

Bayley Fritsch provided a cameo for Pickett with two goals, while Christian Salem was damaging off half-back.

Thanks so much for joining us today for another bumper Saturday of AFL football.

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Have a lovely evening and bye for now.

Demons coach Simon Goodwin has revealed Steven May will go into the concussion protocols after taking a knee to the head late in tonight’s game.

That would mean that May will miss next week’s game regardless of whether he is suspended for his clash with Francis Evans tonight.

Demons coach Simon Goodwin.Credit: Getty Images

Goodwin defended May as going for the ball and he said the star defender felt he had no other option

“He had to come off for the blood rule [after the Evans clash] and he just said that he didn’t have any other option [than to collide with Evans],” Goodwin said.

“That was his comments as he came to the bench – he was surprised as anyone.”

Goodwin said sometimes players suffered concussions in collisions.

“It’s a tough one,” Goodwin said.

“Steven’s whole intent was to win the ball. It’s really unfortunate to get a concussion in the game, and sometimes you can be concussed without being reported. We will have to go through the process. If you look at pure intent, he was going for the ball. It was just unfortunate.

“Steven, himself, has ended up with a concussion late in the game when he copped a knee [to the head] in a marking contest.

“There are times in the game where you suffer a concussion and, unfortunately for both teams, we both had one.”

Richmond’s belated decision to put the clamps on Harley Reid has paid massive dividends as the Tigers produced their best quarter of the season on the way to a 49-point win over West Coast at Optus Stadium, 16.9 (105) to 8.8 (56).

Reid ran riot during the first half of Saturday night’s match, tallying 20 disposals and six clearances to ensure the Eagles trailed by just nine points at the long break.

Maurice Rioli’s epic tackle of Eagle Brady Hough.Credit: Getty Images

But when Jack Ross was sent to Reid as a hard tag for the start of the third quarter, it proved to be the end for West Coast.

Reid tallied just four disposals for the term as Richmond piled on eight goals to one for the quarter on the way to victory in front of a 44,252-strong crowd.

Tim Taranto finished with three goals and seven clearances from 30 disposals for Richmond, while Jacob Hopper (33 disposals, nine clearances two goals) also enjoyed a big night.

Reid had 27 disposals and six clearances to go with two final-quarter goals when he was shifted into attack, while Liam Duggan (31 disposals) battled hard in an overwhelmed defence.

Richmond’s fifth win of the season means the Eagles (1-17) are now all-but guaranteed to collect the wooden spoon.

West Coast dominated territory in the opening term, but it was Richmond who nailed the key moments to take a five-point lead into the first break.

The highlight belonged to Tigers speedster Maurice Rioli, who produced the chase down tackle of the year when he made up a 10-metre deficit to run down Brady Hough as the Eagles midfielder was taking his third bounce.

Rioli’s moment of magic, which was even better than Tom Liberatore’s effort to chase down St Kilda speedster Brad Hill in April, set up Taranto for the first of his two goals for the quarter.

“You could see him coming from a mile away,” Richmond coach Adem Yze said of the Rioli’s tackle.

“What it does is create spirit and energy for our boys. I’m really proud of him.”

Just to prove he was no one-trick pony, Rioli produced another memorable moment in the second term by diving full-length to smother Harry Edwards, jumping to his feet to toe poke the ball forward before delivering a pinpoint pass to Toby Nankervis in the goal square.

In the middle, Reid was having one hell of a quarter.

The crowd was left incensed when Reid was pushed into a seated security guard by Seth Campbell.

Reid took the harsh treatment in his stride, giving the security guard a high-five before collecting the ball to take his free kick.

With Reid firing in the midfield, West Coast looked every chance of pulling off their second win of the season.

But their midfield became road kill once Reid was tagged out of the contest in the third quarter, with the Tigers piling on an avalanche of goals in what became their best term for the season to date.

The Eagles’ only highlight for the term was a miraculous goal from Liam Ryan, whose dribbling effort from the tightest of angles bounced over a Richmond player and through for a goal.

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Demons coach Simon Goodwin admits he is angry about his side’s poor start to Carlton tonight which he said cost them the game.

“It was frustrating but I’m disappointed and angry at the same time,” Goodwin said.

Christian Petracca gets his kick away.Credit: AFL Photos

“If you take the start away, you are looking to build something but that is the second time in two weeks where we were a fair way off from our role execution and the intensity of the game.

“That is incredibly frustrating and that was probably the moments that cost us the game.

“When you give a team a lead, you suffer the consequences from an outcome perspective.

“I’m angry but the reality is that was unacceptable.

“We don’t want to waste a game, a week or a training session and clearly in the last three quarters you can see someone but it has to be unconditional and that inconsistency has been a big part of our year. That inconsistency from quarter to quarter and week to week.”

Melbourne skipper Max Gawn has defended teammate Steven May but admits his immediate playing future will be in the hands of the game’s disciplinary bodies.

Gawn said he would always stand by May as he only goes for the ball, but he said the clash with Francis Evans was a bad one.

Demons skipper Max Gawn spoils the ball.Credit: AFL Photos

“It was pretty close. I don’t like anyone getting hit in the head,” Gawn told Fox Footy.

“My opinion is that Steven was going for the ball. Sometimes that doesn’t matter, but I will be in the Maysy camp because I know the way that he plays, and he attacks the ball at all times but, to be fair, I saw the replay on the big screen as I was a long, long way away, so I’m not the man to comment on it, although I did just comment.”

Gawn said the sight of Evans bleeding from his face was unpleasant and he hoped he recovered quickly.

“If you see blood [it changes things]. I went in to defend Steven and then I saw the blood and thought, ‘That changes things’,” Gawn said.

“So we worry about the Carlton bloke first and then Steven after that. He was able to come off and reset. We will see how that plays out this week.”

Gawn called tonight’s loss the toughest of Melbourne’s season.

“It’s the hardest [loss] of the year, I think,” Gawn told Fox Footy.

“[We had a] disappointing start. They were still close, but we allowed 20 inside 50s. It was not the right way to play in the first half. That’s a hard loss to swallow for us.”

Jack Riewoldt and David King have both had their say on the May/Evans clash and they both expect May to receive a significant ban.

Both former stars were critical of May’s choice to sprint in for the football while Evans was also on course for the ball.

Steven May could be in real strife for this incident with Francis Evans.Credit: Fox Footy

“I think it is unfortunate that Steven May has collected him high, but if you come in with that sort of velocity… this incident has a little bit of the Jackson Archer about it and that cost him three weeks,” Riewoldt said on Fox Footy.

“He came that fast into the contest, the collision was inevitable. Steven May has a duty of care because Francis Evans has the ball there.

“For me this will go to the tribunal, and it will be about how big of a penalty they want to give Steven May. If it is [graded] severe, it could be four or five weeks.”

King said people needed to look at it from Evans’ perspective.

“What we had to do is look at it from the victim’s point of view. What are we asking Evans to do?” King said on Fox Footy.

“He’s entitled to go for the ball, so we have to protect him. I don’t have any empathy for May in this instance. I think he knew he would make contact.

“I think it will go straight to the tribunal and be three-plus weeks. I wouldn’t be surprised if that is the last time we see May this season.”

Blues coach Michael Voss richly praised lightly built utility Francis Evans, who went for the ball despite having Demons defender Steven May streaming into the contest.

Both players had eyes for the ball, but Evans cannoned into May’s shoulder with one of his teeth appearing to fly from his mouth and May’s shoulder ending up with a cut in it.

Francis Evans of the Blues runs from the ground with blood on his face.Credit: AFL Photos

Voss said he referenced Evans’ commitment at three-quarter-time while talking to his players.

“Only the commitment from Frankie to hold his line for the ball,” Voss told Fox Footy.

“He’s a big unit, May. My initial thought was that they both held their line, but the determining factor will be the time he had to get to the ball. Unfortunately, [with] the game we are playing, that has to be coached slightly differently, as we know any contact like that, especially when it is high, is going to be looked at closely by the tribunal.

“What Frankie was doing was holding his line for the ball. It was a big moment in the game. We were up against it. For him to be able to do that was a real team act.”

The AFL’s match review system faces one of its toughest-ever tests following a brutal Steven May bump that left Carlton forward Francis Evans with concussion, a split nose and a lost tooth on Saturday night.

The sickening collision came late in the third term of Carlton’s eight-point win over Melbourne at the MCG – 12.6 (78) to 10.10 (70) – ending a four-game losing streak for Blues coach Michael Voss.

Steven May could be in real strife for this incident with Francis Evans.Credit: Fox Footy

But as the Blues celebrate a change of fortune and a much-needed win, all eyes will turn to the MRO on Sunday for a ruling on the May hit.

While the outcome was devastating for the 40-gamer Evans, who was immediately ruled out of the game, May appeared to have every intention of going for the ball.

He was charging out from full-back as Evans chased a loose ball into Carlton’s forward line when they collided, May’s right shoulder collecting Evans’ face and sending him tumbling to the ground.

Carlton forward Ashton Moir converted a goal from the resulting free kick – one of his four goals for the night – to hand the Blues a valuable 10-point lead at the time.

May was later concussed in a separate incident, copping a knock to the head when Tom De Koning took a spectacular mark over a pack of players in the last quarter, meaning he will have to miss next Sunday’s clash against St Kilda.

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin defended May after the game, saying the full-back’s intent was to get the ball when he bumped the Carlton forward.

“It’s really unfortunate,” Goodwin said. “You get a concussion in the game, and sometimes you can be concussed without being reported, and it’s going to be one of those ones that will have to go through the process.

“But if you just look at his pure intent, it was purely for the ball.

Ashton Moir was superb for Carlton.Credit: Getty Images

“And in the end, he [May] has walked away with a concussion, himself, late in the game with a knee in a marking contest.”

Goodwin said May had also had to leave the ground momentarily after the Evans clash because of the blood rule.

“He just said, ‘I didn’t even have any other option [in the Evans incident]. I was going for the ball.’ Those were his comments as he came to the bench. Like, he was as surprised as anyone.”

Fox Footy commentator Nathan Buckley said even though the incident happened in a split-second and May would have thought “he was going to go and win that football”, he was not sure “our game can allow that anymore”.

“We are trying to legislate that outcome, not the intent, but that outcome [out of the game],” Buckley said.

Blues coach Michael Voss was reluctant to lay blame on May after the match, even though he said the action was “clearly going to get looked at” by the match review officer.

“Both players were in line with the ball,” Voss said.

“They seemed to be attacking it, to be fair, if I’m being brutally honest, and both sort of making a play at the ball.

“Maybe one person was one step late, which obviously... then the incident happens.

“I don’t tend to read too much into it at this point in time. [I’ll] let the tribunal take care of it, really. I mean, it’s up to them to be able to adjudicate what they think is fair.”

Speaking to Triple M radio after the game, Carlton’s Zac Williams said May had apologised to Evans for his part in the incident.

Clayton Oliver (centre) was chaired off after his 200th game by Christian Petracca (left) and Christian Salem (right).Credit: Getty Images

“I think I was running [in the] corridor, calling for the handball, to be honest,” Williams said.

“I haven’t seen the replay or anything, I only saw it in real-time, and Maysy unfortunately clipped him in the head.

“Maysy came up after it all happened and apologised to him and checked in on him, which is what you want to see when something like that happens.

“It was very unfortunate, and I guess that’ll just get dealt with next week.”

The Evans hit overshadowed what was an entertaining game from two sides who have struggled all year.

Carlton crept ahead to an eight-point lead at quarter time thanks to two Charlie Curnow goals, the first in the opening 36 seconds was his first in 35 days, and then stretched the margin to 19 points at the long break.

Goodwin blamed the slow start for Melbourne’s loss, saying “we didn’t win the game because we didn’t start the game with the right intensity”.

The Blues would be rapt with the potential of talented youngster Moir, who booted four for the night – two in the second quarter, and three by half-time.

But Melbourne kept surging back through the brilliance of Kysaiah Pickett, who booted two sensational goals at the start of the third term – one a 40-metre snap from the pocket after taking a mark, the other a 35-metre check-side from the opposite boundary after another mark.

Melbourne fought to within 10 points at three-quarter-time but could only reduce that margin to eight points by the game’s end.

A hard-working Curnow bobbed up to kick the sealer to bring up his third two minutes before the final siren.

Pickett finished with five for the night, and was the game’s most influential player.

Clayton Oliver celebrated his 200th game for the Demons with a head-to-head match-up on Blues skipper Patrick Cripps. Both were influential. Cripps had 29 disposals for the night, while Oliver had 26.

Melbourne dominated possession (384 to 305) and led the inside 50s across the four quarters (58 to 50) but once again could not find enough successful avenues forward against Jacob Weitering and a stable Blues defence.

Bayley Fritsch provided a cameo for Pickett with two goals, while Christian Salem was damaging off half-back.

Blues skipper Patrick Cripps spoke to Fox Footy after the win over the Demons.

On the win:
“It was just a good contest. They came back at us in the third. That’s been a glitch in our year, those third quarters, so to be able to hold and get back in front. Then find a way to win in the end.

That last three or four minutes was very mature.”

Patrick Cripps of the Blues leads the team out.Credit: Getty Images

On Tom De Koning’s tough performance:
“The beauty of our game is that there will be offers from other teams, but anyone who watches footy couldn’t question his effort and commitment this year. They can be a big distraction. Everyone goes through it – he’s a competitor and he just gets it done.

“We would love to keep him, but he’s got a tough decision to make.”

On the losing streak leading into this game:
“It’s been tough, I’m not going to lie. When you are a leader, you find out a lot about the group and the people around you.

“We had a really good week on the training track, had some really good conversations, and we just wanted to keep it simple today and focused on our pressure on the ball.

“We have a pretty inexperienced side tonight, so to get that win... some of those guys stood up. Moir stood up and kicked some big goals. He was quick to take that free kick when Frankie [Evans] got taken off.

“Matty Carroll was huge, and Lachie Cowan will be an absolute gun.”

On Michael Voss withstanding the pressure on him:
“I check in with Vossy all the time – I couldn’t speak highly enough of what he has done. It’s a bloody tough role when you are not getting results, but what he does well is [in] the way he shows up... Losing hits all of us but you do find out a lot about people.”

On Sam Docherty’s inspiring goal:
“He’s one of my best mates. It’s been 12 years we’ve been playing together, and you don’t know how much longer you will be playing with one of your best mates, but I knew he was going to kick it. He always stands up for us and he’s still got some power in the old legs. The boys got around him hard.”