Carlton faces a nervous wait for the Match Review Officer’s findings after an incident involving star defender Jacob Weitering and Greater Western Sydney forward Toby Greene.
Greene was pinged for a dangerous tackle on Mitch McGovern in the second quarter of Sunday’s game, with Weitering’s left hand appearing to run across the left eye of Greene as he remonstrated with the Giants captain.
While Greene left the field with blood on the opposite side of his face, Weitering’s conduct could constitute unreasonable or unnecessary contact to the eye region, which is a reportable offence.
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Brisbane Lions veteran Dayne Zorko was charged with making contact to the eye region of Luke Pedlar earlier this season, with the incident graded intentional conduct with low impact and high contact, which equates to a one-match ban.
The Lions tried to overturn the ban at the AFL Tribunal, but failed.
“The vision captures Zorko first move his right hand to the face of Luke Pedlar,” Tribunal chairperson Renee Enbom said of Zorko’s case.
“It captures his finger, bent and in a scratching-type position. It also captures the bent finger of Zorko above Pedlar’s eye socket, but then the finger moves down and in our view into the vicinity of the eye socket.
“We are satisfied that contact was made to the eye region. Contact was not to the eye itself, which in our view explains why Pedlar did not react to the incident.
“It also provides an explanation for the medical report. It’s not surprising he didn’t recall the incident given contact was not to the eye itself. We uphold the charge.”
If hit with a one-match sanction, Weitering would miss the Blues’ elimination final – the club’s first final in 10 years.
