Carlton accepts Matt Owies ban after marathon tribunal hearings featuring Kysaiah Pickett
Carlton’s tribunal battle to free Matt Owies stretched past midnight and the Blues have come together on Wednesday to decide whether to take the case further.
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Carlton will not challenge a one-game ban for forward Matt Owies, leaving him out of next week’s elimination final against Brisbane.
Bleary eyed club officials met on Wednesday, after a marathon tribunal night stretched to 12.30am that day.
Melbourne was also weighing up taking Kysaiah Pickett’s three-game ban further.
Owies is one of just four Blues to play all 23 games this season – alongside Patrick Cripps, Nic Newman and Matt Kennedy - and the Blues were wary of losing a rare fully-fit player for Saturday night’s final in Brisbane as they deal with a never-ending injury crisis.
But the club opted on Wednesday not to appeal the suspension.
The Blues had to keep staffers up for the late-night proceedings, to update their fans on social media and the website, causing some frustration.
Bogged down in legalese, the Pickett case stretched beyond three hours and Owies’ hearing didn’t begin until 9.55pm.
And Carlton lawyer Peter O’Farrell stretched the case as far as he could.
A basketball coach and Blues assistant were thrown up as part of a last-ditch bid to free the forward as O’Farrell argued his penalty should be reduced to a fine.
O’Farrell flagged early in the hearing he had a series of character witnesses and when tribunal chair Jeff Gleeson said after midnight that the rough conduct charge against Owies would be upheld, O’Farrell began listing off parts of Owies’ good character.
Gleeson allowed the references and returned to deliberations with tribunal members Jason Johnson and Scott Stevens, even after declaring two hours earlier that it “has been a long night already”.
Among the names who had provided good references were veteran basketball coach Alan McAughtry, who has led elite junior Australian basketballers for decades, and Carlton forwards coach Jordan Russell, who spoke up Owies’ development as a leader.
O’Farrell then staged a defence arguing that Owies should be cleared because he was a former basketballer and the AFL should promote players from other pathways playing the game, especially in an elimination final like next week’s matchup against Brisbane.
Next up was an endorsement of Owies’ charity work, including visiting sick children in hospital.
The argument has failed. Matt Owies' one-match ban stands. Again. Goodnight.
— David Zita (@DavidZita1) August 27, 2024
The defence was linked to Lion Charlie Cameron using character witnesses and good behaviour to shrug off a suspension earlier this year but as AFL lawyer Nick Pane pointed out, in that case Cameron pleaded guilty and his argument of playing more than 200 games without a suspension carried bigger weight than Owies, who has played 72.
Owies even dressed for the occasion, wearing a suit and tie, unlike Pickett, who donned tracksuit pants and a club jacket for his earlier hearing.
The Blues will discuss with O’Farrell any grounds to appeal the verdict, with the admired lawyer seen in best position to get through a charge given he has worked wonders for the club in recent years.
He got Cripps off a suspension in 2022 that cleared the way for the skipper to win the Brownlow Medal and also reduced a ban on Jack Martin that freed the forward to play in last year’s preliminary final, coincidentally replacing Owies against Brisbane.
O’Farrell had a nearly spotless record of success before the Owies case, only losing a Lachie Plowman tribunal and appeal back in 2021.
The Demons said on Tuesday night they would weigh up an appeal, given Pickett’s ban would rule him out of the club’s first three games of next year.
Even after the tribunal found that Pickett should have been aware Collingwood skipper Darcy Moore was in jeopardy when the Demon chose to bump, Melbourne footy boss Alan Richardson said his player was not in the wrong.
“We believe that in the moment Kozzy chose to bump, intending to make shoulder-on-shoulder contact, Darcy lowered to the ground,” Richardson said.
Originally published as Carlton accepts Matt Owies ban after marathon tribunal hearings featuring Kysaiah Pickett
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