AFL MRO Round 3: Rhyan Mansell hit with three-match ban for push on Liam O’Connell

No ban had been handed to any player who shoved their opponent into trouble this year, until now. A young Tiger is set to be the first test case of an AFL pre-season warning.

Richmond will weigh up an appeal in what would be football’s first test case on players being pushed into dangerous contests after Rhyan Mansell was handed a three-week penalty for his clash with St Kilda’s Liam O’Connell.

Mansell will have to go to the tribunal to overturn the ban after he fell victim of a crackdown after the AFL’s pre-season warning players had a “duty of care” to opponents.

Opponent O’Connell was concussed after being pushed into a marking contest that involved Tom Lynch and St Kilda’s Anthony Caminiti.

Liam O'Connell after the incident. Picture: Morgan Hancock/AFL Photos/via Getty Images

Mansell can consider himself incredibly unlucky at the judiciary after he was also the victim of a three-week ban after the league’s crackdown on bumps in 2023, failing to have that ban for a hit on James Aish overturned at the AFL appeals board.

Two years later he faced the ire of the MRO for pushing O’Connell despite a long list of AFL players dodging penalty for similar incidents.

While players including Reuben Ginbey and Jordan Sweet have avoided punishment, there are key differences that will see him forced to defend the action at a Tuesday tribunal.

Ginbey pushed opponent Sam Lalor into a pre-season marking contest but the AFL decided he was trying to contest the ball but instead accidentally injured his opponent.

The AFL judged that Richmond small forward Mansell was never going to contest the ball as Lynch and opponent Caminiti attempted to win the ball.

Mansell also looked at the upcoming contest as the ball went over his head and so the AFL could argue he knew of the danger to Irish opponent O’Connell.

The fact his eyes were on that contest rather than the ball might count against him.

But Mansell would argue that as an improving small forward his technique requires him to try to get separation from his opponent as he tries to win a front-and-centre contest.

Many AFL players at front-and-centre contests try to bump or push their opponents as the ball approaches so they can be first to the spill of the ball.

AFL executive football boss Laura Kane warned clubs before opening round that players had a duty of care to opponents in that situation.

The rules have not changed since the pre-season, where Brandon Starcevich, Mitch Owen and Lalor were injured.

But the memo might have helped MRO boss Michael Christian in deciding to act this time around to avoid a spate of similar incidents.

Kane said of players being pushed into marking contests that a free kick was an option but so was a report.

“Please note such conduct may also be subject to a charge of rough conduct as a reportable offence, if it constitutes a breach of the duty of care owed by the player to their opponent. Please inform your players of this ahead of your first match,” she wrote in her memo.

GWS ruckman Kieren Briggs was fined after a dumping tackle on Hawthorn’s Mabior Chol.

He body-slammed Chol with a tackle that saw his opponent’s arms pinned and while there was head-high contact to the turf, most of the impact occurred to the Hawthorn forward’s shoulder.

St Kilda’s Mitch Owens was fined for a stomach punch to Richmond’s Luke Trainor while Tiger Ben Miller was fined $6250 ($3725 with a guilty plea) for rough conduct.

‘HARD TO CHANGE THE RULES’: YZE EXPECTS TIGER TO ESCAPE BAN

– Tyler Lewis

Richmond coach Adem Yze expects Rhyan Mansell to escape suspension for his push on Saint Liam O’Connell, saying “it’s pretty hard to change the rules during the season”.

Mansell pushed O’Connell into the leading path of Tiger spearhead Tom Lynch who unintentionally collected the St Kilda defender high.

O’Connell was substituted out of the game with concussion and will miss St Kilda’s trip to Port Adelaide under league-mandated protocol.

Mansell’s shove follows a concerning trend of players pushing their opponents into danger this season.

Rhyan Mansell appears to push Liam O'Connell into the contest. Picture: Morgan Hancock/AFL Photos

Young Saint Liam O'Connell subbed out 4

Richmond’s Sam Lalor was one of the first in a practice match against West Coast, leaving the No. 1 pick with an injured jaw.

Bulldog Jordan Croft, Lion Brandon Starcevich and Giant Kieren Briggs have all been concussed in similar fashion.

No ban has been handed down to any of the players who shoved their opponent into trouble and Yze hopes to see the same consistency when the match review officer looks at the match.

“I can’t see in the box, the second row in the box is pretty hard to see but I didn’t see the incident and I haven’t seen it,” Yze said.

“Based on previous incidents, I don’t think that has been an issue, so hopefully ours isn’t either.

“I think they’ll take every incident as it is but we had Sammy Lalor break his jaw if it is a similar incident.

“It’s pretty hard to change the rules during the season, as I said, if it’s deemed inappropriate we’ll deal with it.”

St Kilda coach Ross Lyon said O’Connell was in good spirits but denied to comment on whether the act of pushing a player into danger was fast-becoming a prominent issue.

“Look he’s (O’Connell) got a shiner … I saw him on the bench, he seems OK,” Lyon said.

“It’s part of the game, sometimes you get hit, I haven’t seen it to be honest.

“It’s not my job, I’ve got my hands full dealing with you blokes (journalists) and the opposition, I’ll leave it to the powerbrokers.

“Coaches, we just facilitate what’s put in front of us and make decisions … clearly it seems like it’s a head office situation.

“Those actions get put in the decision makers, they facilitate and make a decision – I carry no weight here.”

Toby Nankervis leads the Tigers off the ground after Saturday’s loss. Picture: Morgan Hancock/AFL Photos

Richmond was eventually belted to the tune of 82 points after the Saints rattled home 14 goals to two in the second half.

Yze said the Tigers’ second half “wasn’t up to AFL standard” but took part ownership of the performance for his positioning of young tall Jacob Blight.

“We weren’t good enough in the box, it was disappointing, we spoke about our starts – our starts over the last two games haven’t been good enough,” he said.

“To our boys’ credit, that first half looked like a tough fought game, a Richmond type game and then we just lost our way, lost a bit of spirit in the third quarter.

“We tried different things (in the coaches box), we tried to ruck from the back-end, Jacob Blight did an amazing job last week.

“We sat down as a coaching staff (and discussed) whether we moved him (Blight) forward because it’s a lot easier to ruck from the front end.

“They scored way too easily when the ball went inside 50 in the second half, way too many inside 50s, but – like I said – that’s on me.”