Richmond is rolling the dice at the AFL Tribunal, challenging the one-match ban handed to premiership star Liam Baker for rough conduct. Live from 5pm AEDT!
The Richmond utility went back with the flight to spoil the ball in a marking contest, however, collected Swans key defender Lewis Melican high with his shoulder.
Swans teammates came over immediately to remonstrate with Baker as tempers flared.
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The incident was graded as careless conduct, medium impact and high contact.
Richmond, represented by Sam Tovey, pleaded not guilty arguing the incident was not rough conduct as it was “a legitimate attempt to spoil”.
Should that fail they argue the impact grading should be low rather than medium.
“This is the classic action rather than the outcome,” said Fox Footy AFL 360 co-host Gerard Whateley.
“I felt like it would definitely be graded, definitely reportable, I wondered whether it would come back as a fine, but it goes to a suspension.”
Whateley outlined that the Tigers have two possibilities when they contest the charge.
“Richmond has two options here. One is to try to beat it and plead not guilty, ‘did Baker make enough of an effort to contest the ball with the arm out to spoil?’, which makes it a free kick, an illegal collision.
“But I don’t know if you can get from medium to low because there’s an inherent risk of causing injury in that action.”
AFL 360 co-host Mark Robinson concurred: “This is a really interesting one for me … this is not cut and dry.”
Should Baker’s suspension be upheld, the Tigers would need to make at least three forced changes for their clash against St Kilda in Gather Round, with Tom Lynch (hamstring) and Noah Balta (knee) already ruled out.
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Source Agencies
