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AFL tribunal confusion makes chief football writer Mark Duffield’s head hurt

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Mark DuffieldThe West Australian
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Patrick Cripps (left) was suspended for this hit while Willie Rioli (right) was not for his.
Camera IconPatrick Cripps (left) was suspended for this hit while Willie Rioli (right) was not for his. Credit: Supplied

Carlton skipper Paddy Cripps has said that he could not possibly have contested the ball that has resulted in him being suspended for two weeks without having the collision with Brisbane’s Callum Ah Chee that led to a concussion with Ah Chee being subbed out of Sunday’s game.

Viewed in isolation, the AFL tribunal’s decision on Tuesday night to uphold Cripps’ two-week suspension is not clearly wrong.

But when you juxtapose it with the tribunal’s acquittal of West Coast’s Willie Rioli in round one, you come to the inescapable conclusion that one of the verdicts is wrong.

Rioli turned his body in mid air when, after setting off to take a mark with Gold Coast’s Matt Rowell coming the other way.

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He suddenly realised Rowell was getting there first and a collision was inevitable.

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This is what tribunal chairman Jeff Gleeson said about the Cripps collision: “Cripps entered the contest at speed, he saw a player at least in his peripheral vision and leapt into the contest. Cripps could, and should, have contested the ball differently and in a way that did not present such a high and serious risk to his fellow player.”

Gleeson believed that Cripps should have had arms outstretched rather than tucked in.

The question that needs to be asked is how does any of that differ from the Rioli incident?

There was no malice intended in either incident – just a couple of players in a split second realising that a collision was inevitable and trying to limit the damage.

If Cripps had chosen to bump and left the ground, causing the damage that he did, he was damned.

Willie Rioli of the Eagles collides with Matt Rowell of the Suns in a marking contest during the round one AFL match between the West Coast Eagles and the Gold Coast Suns at Optus Stadium on March 20, 2022 in Perth, Australia.
Camera IconWillie Rioli of the Eagles collides with Matt Rowell of the Suns in a marking contest during the round one AFL match between the West Coast Eagles and the Gold Coast Suns at Optus Stadium on March 20, 2022 in Perth, Australia. Credit: Paul Kane/via AFL Photos

But the available evidence suggests that when he left the ground he was trying to contest the ball, not bump.

When he pulls his arm back in – and he doesn’t even get it all the way back in to form a full brace position, it is because he realises, in mid air, the collision is coming.

Rioli got his body all the way around and did bump Rowell.

Of course the obvious difference in this is that one player (Rowell) continued to play while Ah Chee had to be subbed out of the game with concussion.

Different consequences, different result.

But on the same night as Cripps was suspended, the tribunal upheld the Tim Kelly suspension for a dangerous tackle which had the potential to cause harm, rather than the actual causing of harm.

Kelly’s “victim” Sam Berry played on with no ill-effects.

As is often the case with AFL tribunal hearings, we are so confused our heads hurt.

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