The sling tackle will go under the microscope on Tuesday night when Richmond premiership player Nathan Broad fronts the AFL Tribunal.
Broad was referred to the Tribunal for his sling tackle that left Adelaide’s Patrick Parnell concussed, with the incident graded as careless conduct with severe impact and high contact.
Two similarly-graded sling tackles in recent years – involving Port Adelaide’s Scott Lycett and Melbourne’s Alex Neal-Bullen – resulted in four-week bans at the Tribunal. Follow the AFL Tribunal in the live blog below!
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The AFL has requested a four-week suspension for Broad, while the Tigers asked for three weeks – and if the Tribunal decides on four, wants it reduced to three on the grounds of his “good character”.
The club shared a text message sent by Broad to Parnell following the incident.
“Look, I don’t want you to accept my apology, but I shouldn’t have done it. Sorry mate. It was shithouse. Hope you’re okay and recover well,” it read.
Broad to face tribunal for brutal tackle | 00:37
Ahead of the Tribunal, North Melbourne premiership player David King called on the AFL to draw a line in the sand and hand out a lengthy ban to the premiership defender.
“We’ve got one chance to stamp this out, and unfortunately, Nathan Broad and the Richmond footy club have to pay a price. That’s a six weeker for me,” King said on Fox Footy’s First Crack of an incident he deemed a “car crash”.
“You have to say: ‘Guys, you know the rules.’
“We stuffed this up with the bump totally and we’ve got all sorts of trauma with past players and we’ll be court for all sorts of reasons and all sort sorts of finances will drift out of the game.
“But players know with this one, they know when they’ve got a guy cold. That poor young fella there — Patrick Parnell — we can’t say what his injury is today.
“Because he doesn’t have a broken arm or broken leg, the trauma he’s going to suffer is down the track potentially. The game now has to get this right, you’ve got one chance, don’t stuff this up.
“If you give that six weeks, it will not happen again for the year. The grading was careless, high and severe — that’s the max. So don’t tiptoe through this one.”
Following Broad’s hearing, the Gold Coast Suns will appeal Charlie Ballard’s one-match ban for striking.
Ballard’s incident with Essendon’s Matt Guelfi on Sunday was graded as intentional conduct with low impact and high contact.
The Suns face Geelong on Sunday.
Follow the AFL Tribunal in the live blog below from 5pm AEDT!
