Source : the age
Lachie Neale’s one-match ban will stand. And he will be ineligible for the grand final.
In a comprehensive ruling, the AFL tribunal has upheld Neale’s one-match ban for striking Hawthorn’s Jack Ginnivan in Saturday’s thrilling preliminary final at the MCG.
The AFL tribunal was critical of the veteran Lion, who hadn’t been suspended in 320 AFL matches.
“Neale jogged towards Ginnivan and formed the immediate intention to swing his arm forcefully at Ginnivan, and that is what he did,” said tribunal chair Jeff Gleeson.
“We have listened carefully to Neale’s evidence,” he said.
“But we find that it was inconsistent in key respects with what we saw on the video, and to what extent we do not accept it
“There is no doubt in our minds that this should be graded as medium impact.
“While Ginnivan was not injured and did not appear to suffer any significant pain or discomfort, the blow was forceful and knocked him off his feet.”
The tribunal also dismissed any arguments that there were “compelling and exceptional circumstances” for Neale to avoid suspension and be eligible to play.
In a compelling case that both tested the AFL’s crackdown on “gut punches” and whether a player of Neale’s experience should be granted leniency after more than 300 matches without suspension, Neale and the Lions have the option of taking the case to the AFL appeal board.
MORE TO COME
The charge of medium impact has been sustained. The AFL tribunal are outlining their findings. It is still unclear if Neale will have to miss the grand final.
A famous AFL tribunal (and courts) case from 30 years ago:
We really shouldn’t be surprised. This is a massive case. And the stakes are super high.
The umpire who penalised Jarman Impey for holding the ball in the dying moments of the classic preliminary final has received the ultimate endorsement – selection for Saturday’s grand final.
Hayden Meyer was praised for making the correct but brave decision, which enabled Brisbane’s Hugh McCluggage to put the Lions in front. But the umpires were abused by Hawks fans as they left the ground, some in the crowd threw bottles onto the field, and Hawthorn players James Sicily and Tom Barrass were fined for their reactions to the call.
Meyer will officiate in his third grand final, alongside Brett Rosebury (in his 10th), Nick Foot and Brendan Hosking.
“The umpires selected to officiate this Saturday have earned the honour and privilege of representing the umpiring group,” AFL head of officiating Steve McBurney said.
A quick reminder: The AFL tribunal jury retired to consider their verdict at 7.12pm.
During the marathon hearing, there were some interesting numbers bandied about.
The tribunal heard that Neale was in the “0.187 per cent” of players to ever play the game.
But the AFL’s counsel, Andrew Woods KC, looked to clarify the numbers late in the hearing.
“114 players have played more than 300 AFL/VFL matches,” Woods said.
“Of those 114, 72 – which is 63 per cent of them – have been suspended at least once.
In the AFL’s final submissions, their counsel, Andrew Woods KC, addressed a range of matters.
As the AFL continued to outline the case of striking against Neale, Woods said: “While Mr Neale hasn’t been suspended, he has been found guilty of eight reportable offences.
“Three of those are striking, with a grading of intentional, low and body.
“The next factor that might be seen to be against [him], is that there’s not a plea of guilty. [Scott] Pendlebury didn’t plead guilty either, which should be pointed out.”
But, interestingly, the tribunal chair Jeff Gleeson said that a guilty or not guilty plea wasn’t necessarily relevant.
“It’s not a two-way street the relevance of guilty/not guilty, is it? It’s something that you can take into account as a positive,” Gleeson said in reply.
“We don’t take into account [that as] a negative factor in the event that we find against Neale that he saw fit to challenge that.”
I really don’t want to speculate too much .… but the length of this case is probably not a good sign for Lachie Neale. I’ve been wrong before.
