Peter Wright sent straight to the AFL tribunal, asks for four-week ban

The AFL has sent Bombers big man Peter Wright straight to the tribunal following his huge hit on Swan Harry Cunningham, giving a hint on how many weeks the league will ask him to sit out.

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 23: Peter Wright of the Bombers and teammates look dejected after the round two AFL match between Sydney Swans and Essendon Bombers at SCG, on March 23, 2024, in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Matt King/AFL Photos/via Getty Images )

The AFL will ask for at least four weeks’ suspension for Peter Wright’s late bump on Harry Cunningham as the league continues its crackdown on headhigh contact.

Wright’s late collision in a marking contest with Cunningham drew a furious reaction from the Swans, as star Tom Papley said he was “obviously going to have a nice holiday”.

On Sunday afternoon the league sent it directly to the tribunal for a severe impact charge that will draw a four-plus week penalty if he is found guilty.

Papley admitted Cunningham had some memory loss from the incident, with his concussion consigning Wright to a certain severe impact assessment on the bump.

While he was only marginally late to the ball he did not genuinely contest the ball and breached his duty of care to his opponent.

But under the AFL’s new rules the league had the discretion to assess the hit as careless, high contact and severe impact and hand Wright a three-week ban.

Peter Wright collects Cunningham high. Picture: Getty Images

Instead the league chose the more serious option of elevating it to the tribunal, so he can expect to miss games against St Kilda, Port Adelaide (Adelaide Oval) and the Western Bulldogs _ and likely more.

Sydney believed Essendon’s players had gone out hunting them and would have believed three weeks was insufficient given the damage to Cunningham.

He was in a bad way post match and will not be rushed in the concussion protocol problems given those memory issues that saw him recall little from the incident.

Papley told 3AW the Dons had pretended to be tough as a “facade” and cited Sam Draper’s late hit on Jake Lloyd.

But given Draper did not hit Lloyd high in the marking contest he was handed a $2500 fine after also giving away a free kick and 50m penalty.

The match review panel would have also assessed Isaac Heeney’s swinging arm which collected Essendon’s Nick Hind high.

Cunningham is taken off the field. Picture: Getty Images

The Brownlow Medal contender’s hand caught Hind high and he immediately recoiled in pain and surprise.

But with the AFL’s definition of a strike as a blow delivered with force, the incident was not even listed as part of their media release.

Essendon will get Mason Redman (suspension) and Darcy Parish (hamstring) back against St Kilda, with Brad Scott unrepentant about his players taking the field with an Essendon “edge”.

“Sydney have dominated their last few weeks and got a lot of players who are very very slick, very good with ball in hand and if we just sat back and watched them do that, it was going to be a long difficult night so we needed to combat that with some physicality at the contest,” he said.

“So we could either make it into an athletics contest or we could compete in the contest and get the ball going our way.”

Originally published as Peter Wright sent straight to the AFL tribunal, asks for four-week ban