Bomber Andrew Phillips and Docker Caleb Serong have both been slapped with one-match bans by the Match Review on Monday.
With less than 80 seconds to go in Essendon’s win over Adelaide, Phillips opted to go the bump on Crows rival Reilly O’Brien and appeared to make contact with the ruckman’s head.
O’Brien was able to get to his feet and take his free kick, standing up rubbing his jaw.
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The Match Review deemed Phillips’ contact careless, medium impact and high contact resulting in a one-match ban.
Speaking post-match on the moment, Bombers coach Brad Scott said the impact “didn’t look huge” on O’Brien.
“We want our ruckmen to shepherd and I haven’t looked at in detail on whether he got him high or not but the impact didn’t look huge,” Bombers coach Brad Scott said.
Essendon Bombers Press Conference | 12:20
“We’ll let the MRO take care of that.”
Phillips has been shouldering the ruck load for Essendon in recent weeks with teammate Sam Draper battling a hip injury.
And they’ll need to be at their best when they take on Geelong this weekend, after the Cats put opponents North Melbourne to the sword in the middle with a 9-0 centre clearance count in the opening term of their win.
Meantime Serong has been hit with a one-match ban for his dumping tackle on former teammate Adam Cerra.
The tackle happened in the second quarter of Fremantle’s devastating loss to the Blues which now puts finals almost out of reach.
Given the Dockers face ladder-leaders Collingwood at the MCG this week, an appeal could be needed as the club remains desperate to keep their 2023 season alive.
Serong had taken Cerra to ground in a “strong tackle” after the Blue took the ball mid-air and was then pulled down once his feet touched the Optus Stadium turf.
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“You can hear the umpires asking themselves ‘was it a sling?’,” commentator Matthew Pavlich said at the time.
“They all said no, no, it’s fine.”
But the Match review determined Serong’s actions careless, medium impact and high contact.
In the round’s other ban, Nick Haynes has accepted his one-match suspension for rough conduct in his tackle on Hawk Josh Ward.
He’ll miss the clash with Adelaide this weekend.
Richmond co-captain Toby Nankervis will front the tribunal on Tuesday night for his heavy contact that saw Swan Jake Lloyd concussed.
He’s facing at least a three-match ban for his actions.
