Hawthorn great Jordan Lewis says the Jacob van Rooyen suspension is “embarrassing”, and has whacked Gold Coast’s Wil Powell for backing the ban.
Van Rooyen’s strike on Suns backman Charlie Ballard saw him cop a two-week suspension which was then upheld by the Tribunal in a surprising decision on Tuesday night.
While the AFL world has almost unanimously questioned the call, given even the Tribunal conceded van Rooyen was in the act of spoiling, Ballard’s teammate Powell came out firmly in support of the suspension on Wednesday and said the Demon “got what he deserved”.
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“He (van Rooyen) didn’t make contact with the footy, didn’t have eyes with the footy and smacked Charlie in the side of the head,” Powell told SEN WA.
“I think he got what he deserved, the MRO is doing a good job.”
That reaction left Lewis staggered.
“Even the young Gold Coast player that came out and said it was the right decision. His comment was nearly as silly as the suspension,” the ex-Demon and Hawk said on Fox Footy’s AFL 360.
“I just couldn’t believe that you would see it that way and back the decision in. It’s his opinion, clearly.”
It was suggested to Lewis that Powell was reacting somewhat emotionally given his teammate was the Vitim in the incident, but he said: “this was an interview today so they’ve had time to digest.”
On the incident itself Lewis said: “The more you watch it, you try and understand where they’re coming from … what is the end goal? We clearly know they (the AFL) are frightened with litigation and concussion, and players down the track coming back and suing for whatever reason.
“They’re making it up as they go along. We’ve never seen this before – they are looking at instances and seeing the result of an incident and going OK, let’s penalise that now, let’s see where it goes from here, let’s put that on the agenda.
“So then in two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, then we’ve actually got a case to put it against. There’s a precedent. So they’re making it up.
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“The ball would be in dispute 60 to 70 per cent of the time (during games); that’s unlikely nearly every other game in the world. There’s usually somebody that’s got control of the ball, so the ball in dispute means you have to make multiple decisions from 360 degrees.
“So there’s going to be accidents. For me, that was a football act and to see that as a suspension I think is embarrassing. It just doesn’t sit well, the more I watch that the angrier I get.”
Melbourne will appeal the Tribunal’s decision on Thursday night.
