Wimmera: Warrack Eagles’ duo Darcy Watts and Kyle Cheney outed for round incidents

Two Warrack Eagles players have received significant suspensions after incidents in the opening round.

The Wimmera league tribunal has handed down its biggest suspension since major changes were made 12 months ago to the way on field incidents in country football are handled.

Warrack Eagles player Dylan Watts fronted the tribunal last Friday night for a hit on Southern Mallee Thunder player Simon Clugston in the opening round.

Watts was red-carded out of the match and sent straight to the tribunal rather than being offered the chance to take a reduced penalty with an early guilty plea.

Watts received a six-match suspension.

His teammate, former AFL player Kyle Cheney, had a four-match ban downgraded to three when he took an early guilty plea for a punch to the back of the head of Thunder player Sam White in the same match.

Clugston and White were concussed in the incidents that both happened in the third quarter.

They took no further part in the match and have entered the new community football concussion protocols and face up to a month on the sidelines.

Southern Mallee Thunder's Sam White and Warrack Eagles' Charlie Dean compete for the ball in the Wimmera league season opener. Picture: Georgia Hallam

The Thunder-Eagles season opener was delayed for more than 30 minutes awaiting an ambulance to arrive at the Jeparit ground to assist Clugston.

Cheney’s strike on White was judged by the league’s match review officer as intentional with high contact and high impact.

Watts and Cheney served the first match of their bans in last Saturday’s second round against reigning premier Ararat when Warrack Eagles suffered their second successive 100-point defeat.

The switch to the grading system for on field incidents last year has significantly reduced the workload on country football league tribunals.

Reported players, in many cases, are opting against contesting charges and accepting the discounted penalty with an early guilty plea.

Players who had been reported and found guilty in the past were able to get a reduced or suspended sentence or reprimand from a tribunal based on a clean playing record.

But the only way they can get a discount under the new system is entering an early guilty plea.

Many leagues publicly report whether a player has been suspended and how the incident has been graded by a match review officer or panel.

Reigning Ovens and Murray league best and fairest Elliott Powell recently had a striking charge downgraded from two matches to one with an early guilty plea for striking Lavington’s Charlie Sanson.