AFL 2024: Essendon told Peter Wright could cop six-week ban

Essendon coach Brad Scott has revealed why the Bombers didn’t challenge Peter Wright’s rough conduct charge that has wiped him out for a month.

Essendon forward Peter Wright (left) has been suspended for four weeks after concussing Sydney’s Harry Cunningham in a marking contest last week. Picture: Mark Metcalfe / Getty Images

Essendon coach Brad Scott says the “finest legal minds in our country” couldn’t find a way for key forward Peter Wright to avoid the lengthy suspension handed to him on Tuesday.

Scott said the Bombers wanted to defend Wright after he “made the ball his object” in the heavy collision that concussed Sydney’s Harry Cunningham but were told they risked a ban of six weeks or more if they pleaded not guilty to his rough conduct charge.

Essendon hoped to limit Wright’s suspension to three weeks but was instead disappointed as the 2022 best and fairest was hit with a four-week ban that will keep him out of action until Anzac Day.

Wright trained at Tullamarine on Wednesday as Scott said the Bombers would look at a key forward to replace him, with Harry Jones the frontrunner after he was held out of the VFL on Saturday.

The Bombers also face several other injury concerns heading into their important clash with St Kilda this weekend, with Will Setterfield on the periphery at training due to knee swelling and vice-captain Andy McGrath running laps as he looks to overcome an ankle complaint.

Will Setterfield has been restricted by knee swelling following a knock during the Swans game and is in significant doubt for Saturday’s clash with St Kilda. Picture: Dylan Burns / Getty Images

Midfielder Darcy Parish trained fully after he was a late withdrawal from the Swans loss due to hamstring tightness and looks certain to return alongside Mason Redman (suspension).

Scott said he hoped Cunningham was recovering after the brutal collision with Wright but felt for his star forward, saying he “did his best to mitigate contact”.

“We still really want to encourage our players to make the ball their object, and we still feel that Pete made the ball his object,” Scott said.

“He had to make an absolute split-second decision, and the reality is sometimes players are going to get that slightly wrong.

“We still feel that Pete did his best to mitigate contact, but we had a choice – we can take the expert legal advice, plead guilty and try to reduce the suspension from four weeks to three, which is what we sought to achieve.

“The advice was if we didn’t do that, we risked six weeks plus … we made the decision to try and mitigate the charge to three weeks, and we ended up at four.”

Scott said he understood Essendon supporters’ frustration at the lack of a tribunal challenge but said the club had explored every avenue.

Peter Wright’s next match will be the Anzac Day game against Collingwood after he was handed a four-week suspension for the collision that knocked out Swan Harry Cunningham. Picture: Matt King / Getty Images

“My job is to let the professionals do their work, but what I want to clearly articulate to our supporters is that our barristers investigated every single possible angle to challenge the charge, and to investigate a not guilty plea, but the advice after challenging every single angle was that just was not possible,” he said.

“I think the AFL have iterated their rules based on the current environment, based on the challenges around concussion in contact sports … they’ve iterated the rules to a point where some of the finest legal minds in our country can’t find a way to challenge the charge.

“Ultimately, we hope that Harry Cunningham is OK and that he makes a speedy recovery … we don’t want to see that, we don’t want to see players getting hurt, and Peter Wright’s intention wasn’t to hurt Harry Cunningham.”

After Sydney star Tom Papley criticised Essendon’s aggression last weekend, Scott said he was pleased to see the Bombers’ physical intent at the contest and said it was a stepping stone to becoming a better side.

“Sydney was better than us, and we learn our lessons in terms of where we can improve, but I was really pleased with the step forward in terms of our intent,” he said.

“We aspire to be a good team, I would say we’re not where we want to be at the moment, but to be a good team you’ve got to be fierce in the contest and you’ve got to have maximum effort.”

Originally published as AFL 2024: Essendon told Peter Wright could cop six-week ban