AFL 2021: All the latest Sydney Swans news and updates ahead of Round 8
Despite widespread consensus his ban for a savage hit on Aaron Black was too lenient, the VFL has ruled out appealing Patrick McCartin’s suspension.
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The VFL has decided against appealing Patrick McCartin’s five-week suspension despite widespread consensus his ban for a savage hit on Aaron Black was too lenient.
Sydney VFL player McCartin apologised for his conduct and blamed low blood sugar as a diabetic as a contributing factor to his out-of-character strike.
His strike was seen to be as savage as the Andrew Gaff punch which saw the West Coast star suspended for eight weeks.
But the Herald Sun understands the VFL had decided against appealing the verdict on the grounds that it was too light given the severity of the incident.
Family friend Garry Lyon said on SEN on Wednesday morning the suspension was likely 2-3 weeks too light, but defended McCartin’s defence as he battles type one diabetes.
The AFL appealed a two-match suspension handed to Richmond’s Bachar Houli for his strike on Carlton’s Tom Bugg.
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The historic appeal saw Houli handed an extra two weeks, with the league adamant justice had to be served.
The VFL appeals process would have followed a similar timeline, with McCartin having to front the appeals panel.
But instead he will be able to serve his five-week suspension and be available soon after the June 2 mid-season draft.
His penalty will expire after the June 5-6 round of matches, which means a team that secured him would be able to use him in the back-end of the season.
While a mid-season lifeline would seem less likely, the five-week suspension gives him ample time to push his case to be on a list by 2022.
He has been playing as a defender in the VFL, and had amassed 19 and 21 disposals in his first two games before the clash against Black’s Geelong.
Lyon said on Wednesday his battles with diabetes had been significant through his football career.
“He’s got this time thing in his arm, every day he’s looking at it and monitoring it and sometimes it peaks, sometimes it doesn’t – sometimes it’s that dramatic that he passes out and it’s a life or death situation, that’s how you’ve got to monitor it.”
Melbourne’s Bailey Fritsch had his one-week ban overturned by the AFL tribunal on Tuesday but the league would only appeal decisions dramatically out of line with community expectations.
He was able to convince the jury he was pushed into North Melbourne’s Tom Powell by teammate Christian Petracca.
MCCARTIN: LOW BLOOD SUGAR MADE ME ANGRY BEFORE PUNCH
Nick Smart and Marc McGowan
Paddy McCartin released a heartfelt apology for his off-the-ball hit on fellow ex-AFL player Aaron Black before being suspended for five weeks at the VFL Tribunal on Tuesday night.
McCartin and Black were opposed to one another in a VFL match when the No. 1 pick in the 2014 draft angrily whacked at his Geelong opponent’s hand before striking him in the jaw seconds later.
Black, who played 57 games for North Melbourne and Geelong, immediately staggered then went to ground, but managed to play the match out at Sydney’s Tramway Oval.
McCartin said the incident was an accident, which started as a push and shove when Black taunted him about being “unfit.”
“I went to punch him in the chest and got him in the chin, I felt numb about it (and) I was about as stunned as he was,” McCartin said at the hearing.
“I obviously didn’t mean to do that.”
The VFL match review panel classified his actions as intentional conduct, with severe impact and high contact, and referred the case directly to the tribunal rather than offering a penalty.
McCartin – who is a Type 1 diabetic – disputed the impact was severe and blamed low blood sugar as a contributing factor for the incident.
“In the lead up to this game my blood sugar ran unusually low,” he said in the hearing.
“Just before I went to the huddle I went to the bench to check blood sugars as I was not feeling 100 per cent … I was more agitated than usual.”
The VFL advocated for a six-week ban to send a clear message, while McCartin’s team argued for a three-week sanction with an early guilty plea.
The verdict settled on five weeks.
Before the hearing, McCartin said in a video he was deeply sorry for his actions.
“Obviously, I’m really disappointed about what happened and I’m gutted, honestly. I just feel terrible about what happened and I just want to apologise to everyone,” McCartin said.
“Firstly to Aaron, I’m just really glad he’s OK. I spoke to him yesterday and he let me know he’s all right, which I’m really, really happy about.
“I just wanted to apologise to him and his family for what happened. As I said, I’m really, really sorry and deeply regretful for what happened and hopefully next time I see him I can shake his hand and we can move past it.”
ROBBO: NO EXCUSE FOR McCARTIN’S DUMB ACT
McCartin’s apology also extended to the “wider football community” and everyone who had supported him, particularly in recent years when his AFL career ended.
“I know through some actions I made on the weekend; I’ve probably lost some of the respect of people in the footy community,” he said.
“That’s something I’m really upset about and really disappointed in.
“Hopefully, the actions I can make on the field but also in the wider community going forward, with the things I do, can go about earning back some of the respect I’ve lost. I’ll do everything I can to do that.”
McCartin, 25, also acknowledged in his short time with Sydney’s VFL team he was well aware his on-field act went against the Swans’ values.
“I know when you put the jumper on every weekend, you stand for something much bigger than yourself … what I did on the weekend let a lot of people down,” he said.
“I’m really upset about that and really apologetic for it. I’ll do everything I can to earn the respect back of everyone that I’ve lost.
“I’ll go about doing that and showing people what happened isn’t a pattern of behaviour of mine and not something ingrained in my personality and it’s just a mistake.
“I’ll do everything I can to learn from it and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
LONGMIRE WEIGHS IN ON PADDY WHACK
Paddy McCartin – St Kilda’s No. 1 draft pick seven years ago – will plead his case at the VFL Tribunal on Tuesday night after striking Geelong captain Aaron Black in the jaw in an off-the-ball incident.
McCartin faces a potential sanction of five matches or more, according to the VFL classifiable offences table.
The incident occurred early in the match at Sydney’s Tramway Oval and left Black wobbling before he fell to the ground, with McCartin then running upfield.
The Herald Sun understands Black suffered a swollen jaw but didn’t sustain a concussion.
Black played out the match and finished with 13 disposals, while McCartin left the game early after sustaining a thumb injury in an unrelated contest.
Any extensive suspension would be a major blow to McCartin’s hopes of being selected in the AFL’s mid-season draft on June 2.
Former Demon Tom Bugg received a six-match ban for punching Sydney’s Callum Mills in an ugly incident in 2017.
Swans coach John Longmire revealed he had spoken to a “remorseful” McCartin, who is expected to release a public apology at some stage.
“It’s very disappointing,” Longmire said.
“It’s very disappointing for Paddy. He’s a quality bloke, it’s very unlike him and completely out of character.
“The main thing is if Aaron is OK – that’s the main thing out of the equation – and, as I said, it’s very out of character for Paddy.”
McCartin, the older brother of Sydney defender Tom, was playing his third game of the VFL season as he tries to revive his once-promising career.
“He was just getting back into it – he’d just started,” Longmire said. “This will set him back a bit. We’ll wait and see how it goes after that.”
Buddy big boost for Dees clash
Swans stars Lance Franklin and Dane Rampe could return in a timely boost for their top-four team’s latest big test against unbeaten Melbourne at the MCG on Saturday night.
Franklin is set to be the latest Sydney footballer to make a rapid recovery after missing only a fortnight with knee bone bruising from a clash against the Giants in Round 5.
The champion forward was privately confident of being back after only two matches, but coach John Longmire appeared to snuff out those hopes in giving a more conservative prognosis of up to a month.
However, the swelling has subsided and Franklin set the wheels in motion with a good training hitout last Friday that put him “ahead of schedule”, Longmire said.
“His knee has come on really well and is in really good shape now,” he said on Monday.
“He pulled up well over the weekend, then trained really hard again today and did a really solid session, so we’ll see how he is.”
Ruckman Tom Hickey sat out just one game with a posterior cruciate ligament tear before returning on Saturday night and playing a pivotal role in Sydney’s defeat of Geelong at the SCG.
Franklin was able to continue lifting weights and his strengthening program during his recovery period and being able to run sooner than expected has buoyed hopes of him facing the Demons.
“That was a good sign, so he’s able to get in there and go again and get the miles in his legs,” Longmire said.
“That’s what we always required of him; to make sure he gets that level of training before he plays.
“We’ll sit down this week and go through it in great detail again and work out whether he needs to play this week or not, based on the amount of work we think he’s got in over the past week or so.”
Longmire rated Rampe “a big chance” of playing after sitting out the past three matches with a broken finger on his left hand that required surgery.
“He wasn’t marking the ball early on, but he was running around last week catching the ball in training sessions and trained really hard again on Saturday,” he said.
“There’s no certainty for either of (Franklin or Rampe). They’ll still have to finish training this week.”
George Hewett (concussion) is also on track to return, while Robbie Fox, Logan McDonald and Braeden Campbell are all in selection calculations.
Defender Lewis Melican (hamstring) will be sidelined for at least a couple of weeks.
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