The AFL world has been left staggered by the Tribunal upholding Jacob van Rooyen’s striking ban, as two champion players declared the decision would not change the way they play.
Melbourne appears almost certain to appeal the shocking call which saw Tribunal chairman Jeff Gleeson concede van Rooyen was indeed trying to spoil – yet “a reasonable player would have foreseen that in spoiling the way he did, it would have almost inevitably resulted in a forceful blow to Ballard’s head”.
“He launched and extended his arm out and across Ballard’s head. In those circumstances and in light of the instructions given to the panel about the interpretation and application of law 18.5 of the laws of the game, this was not permitted, incidental contact.
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“We find that Mr van Rooyen was careless and he committed the offence of striking by a forceful blow to the head.”
The decision broke during Tuesday night’s edition of AFL 360 leaving host Mark Robinson simply flabbergasted.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” he declared on Fox Footy.
“For the good of the game it’s got to be appealed. Now it may get thrown out, but if it gets thrown out again it’s like, where are we?
“So we’re gonna get back to that stupid bloody comment saying ‘oh what happens if you knee someone in the head going for a mark?’ That’s what people say, it’s an inane comment – he went to spoil and not hurt the bloke.
“It’s absolute rubbish, mate.
“How did he know he was going to make prohibited contact when he’s running with the flight of the ball and trying to judge – we see players every week make split-second decisions on where the ball’s going to bounce. It’s called reading the play.
“And he ran back, was trying to read the play by the hands, and he went like that. There’s no way known he was expecting to hit him in the head. Zero! He wasn’t thinking about that! That’s not expected.
“No, no. We don’t even know what’s going to happen in every action on the field, mate. He didn’t know that, he’s got no way of knowing. He didn’t swing his arm – he went in as a defender with his hand out there. Look at that (the picture of the incident) … it’s a straight arm, it wasn’t a swinging arm. Oh my god.”
His co-host Gerard Whateley expected the Demons to launch an appeal based on the Tribunal chairman’s instructions.
Gleeson told the jury members that if high contact was reasonably foreseeable it made the contact prohibited.
“That’s gonna be the grounds for an appeal,” Whateley said.
“I just don’t understand how that’s a strike. Look where his fist is, look where his elbow is, he’s almost got him in the cradle of the shoulder. I’m really surprised by that.”
Melbourne board member and former club captain Brad Green took to social media to declare his frustration.
“Upheld – I ask what should Jacob do next time? You coach to spoil or at least contest the marking contest. It’s a rule in the rule book,” Green said.
“If he didn’t get stretchered off, would he be playing?
“2 weeks. This is ridiculous.”
Van Rooyen ‘unlucky’ for suspension | 05:02
Meanwhile speaking on AFL 360, Richmond champion Jack Riewoldt said he found van Rooyen’s actions reasonable.
“I think he’s come back with the flight, tried to make a spoil, he’s out of position, caught him with the bicep area,” he said.
“A lot of those times when you’re running back with the flight you’re actually watching the eyes of the oppo to get a bit of a general gist of where the ball’s going to land.
“Coaches harp onto key forwards about making a contest; you don’t need to mark the ball, you just need to make a contest. He’s tried to make a contest there, made a bit of a blue but I don’t think he’s gone out of his way to nuke him.”
Asked whether the ruling would change the way they play, both Riewoldt and Geelong superstar Tom Hawkins said it would not.
