AFL 2022 MRO news: Jarrod Berry learns tribunal fate over Clayton Oliver ‘eye gouge’

The tribunal has agreed with Jarrod Berry that he flailed his hand at Clayton Oliver’s face rather than rake across it. And because of that, he is free to take on the Cats.

Clayton Oliver Jarrod Berry art

Brisbane midfielder Jarrod Berry is free to play in the preliminary final against Geelong after having his one-game suspension for making unnecessary eye contact overturned.

The Lions convinced the AFL tribunal that Berry’s hand flailed to Clayton Oliver’s face as a natural, defensive reaction last Friday night because the Melbourne star put him in a vulnerable situation by applying force to his throat.

In a three-hour hearing on Tuesday, Berry conceded he touched the eye region but said he was not looking at Oliver when it happened and was trying to push him away as they wrestled.

Berry went as far as to say he was concerned that if he had laid there without reacting, there was potential he might lose consciousness, having felt increasing pressure on his throat.

The match review officer had graded the incident, which occurred during the third term of Brisbane’s upset semi-final win, as intentional, high conduct and low impact.

Berry is now available to face the Cats at the MCG this Friday night.

“I felt like I was under threat,” Berry said.

“I’m not a wrestler and I wasn’t composed in that situation.

“If I knew my fingers were near the eye region, I would’ve put them away.”

Jarrod Berry and Clayton Oliver tangle on the ground.

The tribunal agreed with Brisbane’s suggestion that Berry could not see where his hand went, had limited ability to do much more than he did because his left hand was restricted and whatever contact he made was fleeting, not forceful.

As the league’s representative, Nick Pane QC, tried to argue that footage showed Berry had made a raking movement with his hand, the Lion told the tribunal his left ring finger was bent because he had dislocated it more than 100 times.

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Berry said he was unaware that making unreasonable or unnecessary contact to the eye region was a reportable offence, having thought it was only gouging.

Neurosurgeon Dr Damian Amato backed Berry’s on-field reaction as instinctively protecting himself.

Dr Amato said Oliver putting pressure on the Lion’s throat had the danger of obstructing his airway and reducing oxygen to his brain.

“It appears that Jarrod Berry is in a very vulnerable position,” Dr Amato said.

“He’s not just moving in one single manner but flailing with all of his limbs and trying to get the pressure off his throat.”

Jarrod Berry and Clayton Oliver compete for the ball during the second semi-final on Friday night.

Called as a character witness, ex-Hawthorn and Brisbane champion Luke Hodge rejected the notion that Berry would have made intentional contact around Oliver’s eye.

The Lions also used Crows skipper Rory Sloane’s eye contact case from this year, which was downgraded and his one-game suspension overturned, as evidence.

Pane believed Oliver putting some pressure on Berry’s neck did not excuse what the Lion did in response.

He insisted Berry could have caused serious injury and at various points of the wrestle, could see where his hand was.

“Choosing to make a raking action with his left hand across the player’s eye region is unreasonable in the circumstances,” Pane said.

“Even if it was instinctive, it does not mean it wasn’t intentional.”

The tribunal deemed Berry’s reaction justifiable in the circumstances.

Originally published as AFL 2022 MRO news: Jarrod Berry learns tribunal fate over Clayton Oliver ‘eye gouge’