AFL 2022: All the latest match review and injury news after round 9
Marlion Pickett co-designed Richmond’s Indigenous jumper ahead of Dreamtime at the ‘G. He and a Swan have found out their tribunal fate.
Richmond midfielder Marlion Pickett will not feature in the AFL’s Indigenous Round this weekend after having his one-game rough conduct ban upheld.
The Tigers had argued the 30-year-old’s bump on Hawthorn’s Dylan Moore in the third quarter of Saturday’s was low impact, rather than medium, as deemed by the match review officer.
But the jury disagreed, saying even though Moore did not sustain an injury, Pickett had the potential to cause one.
He will not take to the field in the Sir Doug Nicholls match against Essendon on Saturday night, which has extra meaning for him this year.
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Pickett has co-designed Richmond’s 2022 Dreamtime guernsey with his partner, Jessica.
The Tigers’ counsel, Sam Tovey, had described Pickett as having taken reasonable steps to try to execute a perfect bump.
Pickett himself said he reduced his speed to a scale of three or four out of 10 – “to the point I was nearly in a power walk – and rated the force he collided into Moore as about a three.
He also said he tucked his arm in and went as low as he could to “make the hit as safe as possible … to be a safe and careful shepherd” for teammate Liam Baker.
The Tigers did concede there was some high contact to Moore but they felt the majority of it was from Pickett’s shoulder to the Hawk’s chest area.
“(Pickett) took reasonable steps to execute a perfect bump and aside from secondary and glancing high contact, that’s what he did,” Tovey said.
“There was no appreciable risk here other than anything more than what happened.
“And the medical report showed there was no injury at all.”
Tovey described it as “good management and bad luck” that high contact occurred, but the AFL’s counsel, Nick Pane QC, argued it was good fortune, rather than because of a correct technique, that Moore was not injured.
The AFL also pointed to the tribunal guidelines that stated any high bump with the potential to cause injury would usually be graded as medium impact.
After deliberating for about 20 minutes, the jury, chaired by Jeff Gleeson QC, sided with the league.
Swan’s suspension upheld
Sydney has been unable to get midfielder James Rowbottom’s one-match, rough-conduct suspension overturned at the AFL tribunal.
The Swans argued Rowbottom’s collision with Essendon’s Zach Merrett during the second quarter at the SCG last Saturday night was not a bump and there was zero or inconclusive headhigh contact.
They also tried to convince the tribunal that if it was a bump, it was of low, rather than medium impact.
But after deliberating for about 40 minutes, the jury disagreed, saying it was a bump with the potential to cause injury.
Rowbottom will miss the Swans’ clash against Carlton at Marvel Stadium on Friday night.
In his evidence, Rowbottom said he was going to tackle Merrett, not bump him, but once the Bombers’ on-baller fumbled the footy, he had to brace for inevitable contact.
Sydney’s counsel said part of the reason Rowbottom’s action did not classify as a bump was because he was not trying to take a player out of the way to stop them contesting the ball.
The Swans also suggested the contact was glancing more so than forceful.
AFL counsel Nick Pane insisted Rowbottom collided with Merrett to try to clear a path for teammate Callum Mills.
Pane said the action was careless – as graded by the match review officer – as well as unreasonable in the circumstances and had the potential to cause injury because of how quickly Rowbottom approached the contest.
He said Merrett was vulnerable and the Swan did not do everything he could to avoid contact.
“It may be said that the bump was not delivered in a conventional manner (because it was front-on), but it was the act of bumping nonetheless,” Pane said.
The jury deemed it to be a high bump and was satisfied there was high contact.
Jury chairman Jeff Gleeson QC said that although bumps were not confined to hip and shoulders, Rowbottom was not simply bracing for contact.
“The force of impact was considerable and had the potential to cause injury,” Gleeson said.
“While we acknowledge Rowbottom’s crossed or braced arms may have reduced the impact to some extent, this was not enough to constitute low impact.”
Hardwick: Pickett will ‘struggle’ to beat ban at tribunal
Tigers coach Damien Hardwick has conceded Marlion Pickett’s roll of the dice at the tribunal tonight was unlikely to come off.
Richmond decided to challenge Pickett’s one-game suspension for a dangerous bump in a bid to clear the wingman for Saturday’s Dreamtime clash with Essendon.
“It’s heartbreaking in a way because the reality is to the letter of the law he probably struggles to get off,” Hardwick said on AFL360.
“This guy has had an incredible story, he’s designed our jumper for the game and it’s a football act.
“But I do understand the rules are in play for the head-high contact stuff.”
Pickett was offered the ban by AFL match review officer Michael Christian after a second-quarter bump on Hawthorn’s Dylan Moore on Saturday.
Pickett was laying a shepherd for teammate Liam Baker when he bumped Moore and collected him high.
The incident was assessed by the MRO as careless conduct, medium impact and high contact.
Moore underwent a concussion test but was cleared by Hawthorn doctors and returned to the field soon after.
Sydney has also challenged James Rowbottom’s one-game suspension for his bump on Essendon’s Zach Merrett.
Merrett was caught high in the incident but played out the game.
Tigers to fight Pickett ban but young Dee cops two
Richmond has decided to challenge Marlion Pickett’s one-game suspension for a dangerous bump in a bid to clear the wingman for Saturday’s Dreamtime clash with Essendon.
But Melbourne is set to lose youngster Kade Chandler for matches against North Melbourne and Fremantle after he was slugged a two-match sanction for driving Luke Foley into the ground in a dangerous tackle.
West Coast’s Liam Ryan was also wiped out, offered a one-match suspension for a high bump on undefeated Dee Jake Bowey.
Ryan escaped with a grading of careless conduct and medium impact.
Pickett was offered the ban by AFL match review officer Michael Christian after a second-quarter bump on Hawthorn’s Dylan Moore on Saturday.
Pickett was laying a shepherd for teammate Liam Baker when he bumped Moore and collected him high.
The incident was assessed by the MRO as careless conduct, medium impact and high contact.
Moore underwent a concussion test but was cleared by Hawthorn doctors and returned to the field soon after.
Richmond forward Tom Lynch was on Sunday cleared by the MRO for his elbow which collected Hawthorn’s Jarman Impey.
Richmond is searching for a fourth-straight win against Essendon as they consolidate their spot in the top-eight.
The Tigers will already lose key defender Noah Balta for the clash, after he suffered a hamstring injury in the third quarter against the Hawks.
Pickett and his partner Jessica Nannup have designed the club’s Dreamtime guernsey with their family totem The Kaarak a key part of the design.
The Kaarak is a red-tailed black cockatoo that is represented as flying on the design which represents Pickett and Nannup’s journey from WA to Melbourne.
Richmond says the Kaarak is seen flying across Perth’s Swan River on the jumper, representing where Marlion and Jessica’s ancestors fought.
.@Richmond_FC will appeal Marlion Pickett's one-match suspension at the Tribunal. pic.twitter.com/uTlRomdG54
— AFL (@AFL) May 16, 2022
Forward Tom Lynch was on Sunday cleared by the MRO for his elbow which collected Hawthorn’s Jarman Impey.
Richmond is searching for a fourth-straight win against Essendon as they consolidate their spot in the top-eight.
The Tigers will already lose key defender Noah Balta for the clash, after he suffered a hamstring injury in the third quarter against the Hawks.
Lynch faced match review heat after a high elbow to the head of Hawthorn’s Jarman Impey as he collected a ball on the MCG wing.
Lynch has kicked 31.14 to lead the Coleman Medal by four goals from Tom Hawkins, but was immediately confronted by Impey as a collected an MCG ground ball on the wing.
As he fended off to attempt to break a potential tackle his elbow caught Impey, who went off the ground bleeding after the incident.
But the MRO ruled that it was a football accident given Lynch had little time between picking up the ball and being confronted.
Lynch escaped penalty under the same ruling as Jesse Hogan, whose high fend on Geelong’s Jed Bews last week was assessed but not penalised.
Last year GWS forward Toby Greene was suspended for two weeks with an elbow fend on Geelong superstar Patrick Dangerfield.
The MRO ruled that he had time to win the ground ball then after looking at Dangerfield stuck out his elbow in a dangerous action, with the tribunal eventually downgrading the force and discounting the suspension to a week.
Sydney’s James Rowbottom can accept a one-week ban for his high hit on Essendon’s Zach Merrett after the Swans’ dominant victory.
Rowbottom ran past the ball to hit Merrett high and while the Essendon vice-captain got up and kept playing he was clearly hit high and forcefully.
He was assessed as having hit Merrett high with medium-level force, with the MRO having discretion to elevate the impact of hits given the capacity to cause serious injury.
Injury update: Forgotten Pie a likely replacement
– Sam Landsberger
Mason Cox had more taps than a plumbing warehouse in the VFL on Saturday to show his AFL career has not gone down the drain.
With goggles on, the 31-year-old got the Sherrin flowing Collingwood’s way with a flush ruck performance that has him a strong chance to burst past Aiden Begg for next week’s clash against Fremantle in Perth.
Cox’s 47 hit-outs were dripping with influence against undersized Bulldog Josh Schache and Lang Lang kid Josh Patullo.
The VFL Pies kept Footscray to four goals from 41 entries as defender Nathan Murphy (18 disposals) plucked 10 marks in his comeback game from ankle surgery.
Murphy — the man the Magpies almost drafted at No.6 in 2017 before landing him at No.39 — was magnificent.
With Jack Magden (shoulder) expected to undergo a scan and Jordan Roughead (finger) unlikely to return next week an AFL recall for Murphy — who had not played since the pre-season — could come sooner than expected.
The 22-year-old played 15 of the last 17 games in 2021 and was set to continue that run under new coach Craig McRae before that setback in March.
Fringe Dog Hayden Crozier won 24 largely creative disposals out of the backline although it was a tough day for No.2 pick Sam Darcy (six disposals) and No.1 pick Jamarra Ugle-Hagan (five disposals).
Darcy, 18, has shot up 4.5cm to 207cm since he was drafted but was spared ruck duties in his first VFL game.
Wearing premiership captain Easton Wood’s No.10 jumper, the father-son sensation showed patience will be required before he is ready for AFL footy.
Ugle-Hagan — the No.1 pick in 2020 — has lost his place as Aaron Naughton’s co-pilot to Category B rookie Buku Khamis (three goals on Friday night).
Hawthorn champion Dermott Brereton questioned Ugle-Hagan’s lack of repeat efforts in his last game and VFL commentators wondered whether his lack of acceleration was due to carrying an injury on Saturday.
The VFL Magpies outhunted Footscray (64-32 tackles) and won every quarter before slamming on four goals in final-quarter red-time to blow the margin to 55 points at Olympic Park.
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