Adelaide v Geelong: Patrick Dangerfield sent straight to AFL tribunal for high bump
Geelong is set to be without Patrick Dangerfield and Jeremy Cameron for multiple weeks. Which clubs will get the Cats at a good time?
Patrick Dangerfield will almost certainly miss key games against Brisbane, Hawthorn and Melbourne after being referred straight to the tribunal for his hit on former housemate Jake Kelly.
Dangerfield was on Sunday handed a Monday night tribunal date after MRO boss Michael Christian assessed the intentional head clash as a careless hit of severe force.
The Herald Sun revealed on Sunday that Kelly’s heavy concussion and broken nose were certain to see the force elevated from high to severe.
The tribunal can make its own judgment on punishment but the base suspension for a careless-severe force hit to the head is three or more weeks.
Even if Geelong successfully argued to downgrade the hit from severe to medium Dangerfield would still miss two weeks.
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MORE: WHAT TO DO WITH DANGERFELD IN SUPERCOACH
Geelong will take on Brisbane at GMHBA Stadium on Friday without Dangerfield and Jeremy Cameron, with the club also assessing Sam Menegola’s AC joint injury.
He was not able to return in the loss to Adelaide but hasn’t yet been ruled out, while Mitch Duncan might miss one more week with a calf injury.
Dangerfield knocked out Kelly after he had disposed of the ball, with the MRO boss given absolutely no wiggle room on how he assesses the intent of the hit.
Under changes to the AFL rules brought about after the 2018 Ryan Burton hit on North Melbourne’s Shaun Higgins, any head clash when a player chooses to bump is a reportable incident.
The MRO last year assessed Ben Long’s hit on Sean Darcy, which left him concussed and with neck pain, as severe rather than high impact.
Dangerfield’s hit knocked out Kelly cold and was of a similar force to Long’s hit.
Former tribunal member and Geelong legend Jimmy Bartel said on 3AW on Sunday: “I am not sure what else you would have to do to get severe,” he said.
“And it allows Patrick Dangerfield to go up and explain his case and get a hearing and it might get two games, but I don’t know how else you can grade it less than severe.”
Richmond legend Matthew Richardson agreed with a penalty but said coaches would increasingly caution players against bumping.
“If I was a coach I would say to my players that it is a very risky proposition now to go for a bump. Even though I don’t want the bump taken out of the game, we need to be strict on head high knocks.”
In other match review news, Lions star forward Joe Daniher was handed a fine rather than suspension for his elbow to Sydney’s Dayne Rampe.
Daniher flung his arm back against Rampe, but like Richmond’s David Astbury after a similar incident with Lachie Plowman, was seen to have hit his opponent with a tricep rather than elbow.
EXPERTS PREDICT TWO WEEKS
Hawthorn champion Jason Dunstall said on Fox Footy: “He’s in trouble, he elected to bump and there was a clash of heads which is then his responsibility,” he said on Fox Footy.
“We have to protect the head and I don’t think he needed to continue with the contact like he did.”
Former Adelaide hard man Mark Ricciuto was more emphatic: “He has to get a week or two.”
Co-commentator Nick Riewoldt said there was no malice in the incident “but no doubt that will be looked at”.
“If you choose to bump, you forfeit your rights,” Riewoldt said.
“There’s been so much talk in the off-season about the need to protect the head.”
Dunstall replied: “We need to protect the head. I don’t think he needed to make contact the way he did.
“It wasn’t a jump bump, where the shoulder hits the chin, but he still affected the bump after the ball had gone and the head clash is going to be his responsibility.”
Geelong coach Chris Scott launched a passionate defence of his vice-captain after his side’s shock 12-point loss to last year’s wooden spooners.
“My take was when you’ve got two players running full-speed at each other, and one player kicks the ball just before contact, then the player should do everything you can not to hurt the other player,” Scott said.
“Don’t jump off the ground, don’t raise your arms, you can’t tackle him ... sometimes players run into each other and there’s a head clash. I don’t think he intended to headbutt him, that’s for sure.
“To my eye, it looked like he (Dangerfield) was doing everything he could to protect himself and the other player.
“It’s a game we play – two guys running at that speed straight at each other. Collisions happen.”
Kelly had just released a handball a split second before Dangerfield cannoned into him.
Dangerfield didn’t leave the ground, which will be in his favour when match review officer Michael Christian reviews the incident over the next 24 hours.
A potential suspension for the Cats star will see a reshuffling of the Brownlow Medal market with Dangerfield one of the favourites at $11.
The Dangerfield incident capped off a horror first half for the Cats who found themselves 38 points down after the Crows slammed on seven second-quarter goals.
Adelaide was already the walking wounded when Kelly went down having activated its medical sub after defender Luke Brown was earlier ruled out of the game.
Dangerfield found space in the middle of the ground and was charging towards the Cats’ attacking 50 when Will Hamill laid a brilliant chase-down tackle that forced a handball.
Kelly collected the footy just inside 50 then Dangerfield floored him.
Dangerfield had his left arm tucked in but his head collided with Kelly’s.
Asked by Riewoldt what the alternative was, Dunstall said “he didn’t need to follow through and bump or he could have grabbed him around the waist”.
Luke Brown came off with a sore achilles during the first term and was replaced by Mitch Hinge at the start of the second.
Five minutes into the third quarter, Hinge looked to have his right shoulder pop out.
He came back on, only for it to pop back out again early in the last term.
Hinge dislocated the same shoulder at training in February.
Dangerfield had been quiet before the incident after starting the first and second quarters in the goalsquare.
But he helped Geelong get back into the contest when he was moved into the centre to open the third term.
Dangerfield’s most recent suspension was a one-match ban for a dangerous tackle on Carlton’s Matthew Kreuzer in 2017.
SHANE MCADAM WOOOOOW!#AFLCrowsCatspic.twitter.com/i8NEcCXfCx
— AFL (@AFL) March 20, 2021
CROWS FLIP CAT SCRIPT
- Scott Gullan
The opening game of the season for Geelong was supposed to be all about sitting back and admiring what their high-profile recruits were going to add.
It was to be a celebration for last year’s Grand Finalists given the AFL had given them a nice easy opener against the reigning wooden spooners Adelaide.
This script went a bit fuzzy early in the week when it was revealed Jeremy Cameron had pinged his hamstring again and wouldn’t be making the trip to Adelaide Oval.
Seeing how Cameron and Tom Hawkins operated together was at the top of the wish list for Cats fans, who have been salivating at the thought of the last two Coleman Medallists hanging out in the same forward line.
Then there was how Shaun Higgins was going to look on Gary Ablett’s half-forward flank.
And how Hawthorn premiership hero Isaac Smith was going to fit into the Cats midfield rotation.
Well, that script completely went out the window early on as it hadn’t factored in how spirited the Taylor Walker-inspired Crows would be and how flat and lifeless the Cats would be at the start of the game.
The first half was woeful from the team who many have as premiership favourites because of their recruiting spree.
Adelaide were buzzing all over the place and they continually made Geelong look slow, which is something that Chris Scott’s team has been consistently accused of despite its stunning success.
And to cap off the horror day, Patrick Dangerfield goes and gets himself in the gun of the match review panel.
The Geelong superstar’s bump on Jake Kelly resulted in the Crows defender being stretchered off the ground.
While the carnage was caused by an accidental head clash, the fact Dangerfield elected to bump means he’s most likely going to be missing next Friday night’s clash with Brisbane.
So what did we learn from Geelong’s opening to 2021?
Higgins and Smith are going to more than handy additions, but they will be better for the run, as will the entire team who made a ridiculous amount of silly mistakes.
Even when they mounted the regulation comeback midway through the final quarter, the Cats were their own worst enemies.
A perfect example came with Smith broke from half-back, looked up and had Mark Blicavs alone on the wing with two other Cat free further up the ground.
His regulation 30m pass on his trusty left foot sailed out on the full.
That summed up the Cats and their very forgettable season opener, which wasn’t in any script.
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