Geelong forward Gary Rohan faces a nervous wait, with a sling tackle on Hawks young gun Changkuoth Jiath almost certain to attract scrutiny from the Match Review Officer.
Rohan during the second quarter of the Easter Monday clash wrapped his arms around Jiath to lay a tackle. As the ball spilt free, Rohan continued with tackle on Jiath, whose feet briefly left the ground before the Hawk got an arm free to brace for contact with the ground.
As a free kick had been paid to Hawthorn before the tackle, Rohan was penalised for a 50m penalty.
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But Rohan now faces the prospect of receiving another penalty from the MRO, despite the fact Jiath got up immediately and continued to play.
Crows young gun Luke Pedlar copped a one-match suspension for a sling tackle on Port Adelaide’s Dan Houston.
“Gary Rohan’s sling tackle is the absolute textbook definition of a tackle the AFL is trying to get out of the game,” Herald Sun reporter Jon Ralph told Fox Footy. “You pin the arms, you have a secondary action and then you dump your opponent into the ground – and in this case the ball had gone.
“So the only question really the AFL has to answer is whether Jiath’s head hits the ground. It’s not immediately apparent from that angle there, but I think the secondary angle shows that it is more likely.
“So if Michael Christian can find any evidence there that his head hits the ground, he’ll do what he did with Luke Pedlar when he suspended him last week.”
The MRO this season has elevated the impact grading on several incidents due to the potential to cause injury, even though players on the receiving end have been able to continue playing.
“We’re seeing with the bump that the action is now going to be suspendable and then it’s a matter of how many weeks, depending on the impact,” dual All-Australian Leigh Montagna told Fox Footy.
“I believe that getting slammed into the turf with your head and your arms pinned is more dangerous than a bump in a lot of circumstances.
“I’m OK if that gets a one-week suspension.”
Three-time Coleman Medallist Jason Dunstall added: “If that’s the act that we’re trying to stamp out, well then the act gets a week and then you load it up accordingly depending on what injury the player that’s being tackled has suffered. So minimum one week if you want to stamp the act out – and I think we do, don’t we?”
Dual premiership Kangaroo David King said the on-field penalty at the time of a sling tackle should be greater.
“It should be a free kick and 50 (metre penalty) – and then the players won’t do it,” King told Fox Footy.
“I guarantee you if they know there’s a penalty coming to the team gameday, they won’t go through those actions. They don’t care about the fines, they don’t think about suspensions at that time.
“I think we’ve got to elevate the trauma in-game for the player who transgresses.”
