AFL match review officer Michael Christian has laid out clear guidelines to avoid bans for players who “arrive simultaneously at the ball” after two similar situations resulted in only one suspension last weekend.
Adelaide’s Matt Crouch copped a one-week suspension while Port Adelaide gun Zak Butters escaped suspension after both were involved in collisions with opposition players who had their heads over the football.
Christian’s gradings of the dual incidents raised eyebrows given in both the recipients of the bumps, Carlton’s Jack Carroll, collected by Crouch, and Fremantle’s Bailey Banfield, were collected high.
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But Christian on Monday spelled out a clear difference in the way Butters went to collect the football and said other players in similar circumstances should follow his lead.
“Zak Butters came in to contest the ball, he had both hands down, had his eyes on the ball and in fact touched the ball with his left hand. In our judgment, he was contesting the ball in a genuine manner,” Christian added.
“I think we’ve got to be very careful that we allow players the opportunity to contest the ball, it’s an integral part of the way the game is played and we felt Zak Butters did that.
“If players are going to arrive simultaneously at the ball from opposite directions, they need to have their hands down and are contesting the ball in a genuine manner and it didn’t feel like Matt Crouch did that. He elected to bump and didn’t get his hands down to contest the ball.”
Christian said even though Crouch got to the contest in a similar timeframe to Carroll, he opted to bump first, then get the footy.
“The key point is whether the player has contested the ball or elected the bump and in this particular case I feel that Matt Crouch elected to bump and therefore the action was deemed careless,” he told SEN.
“On face value it came out as low impact, but with the potential to cause a more serious injury with the action for Crouch, there was a decision made to upgrade on the potential to cause a more serious injury.”
Christian didn’t want to deal in “hypotheticals” when asked if an injury to Banfield could have changed his decision.
“I don’t want to necessarily get into hypotheticals, but if a player is generally contesting the ball, impact is not a consideration,” Christian said.
Butters, one of the favourites for the Brownlow Medal, remains eligible for the Brownlow as a result of Christian’s decision.
Source Agencies
