Three-time premiership player Jimmy Bartel has blasted the “amateurish” AFL Tribunal after hearings were scheduled for the same night as Gather Round’s opening match on Thursday.
The Match Review Officer handed out two suspensions following the Cats’ 82-point Easter Monday victory over the Hawks, with Hawthorn’s Will Day and Geelong’s Gary Rohan charged for dangerous tackles on Brad Close and Changkuoth Jiath respectively.
Day failed to have his two-match ban overturned on Thursday evening, hours before Adelaide’s thumping victory over Carlton, while Geelong withdrew their appeal for Rohan’s one-week suspension just minutes before the hearing.
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Meanwhile, Blues forward Harry McKay and Richmond star Tom Lynch had their potential bans scrapped on Tuesday evening — four days after Carlton’s Round 4 triumph over North Melbourne.
Speaking on Channel 9’s Footy Classified, Bartel criticised the Tribunal for drawing out verdicts for several days, claiming the hearings should have wrapped up before the inaugural Gather Round.
“I’m not sure what we’re doing,” Bartel said.
“You can’t use public holidays for an excuse. I know people will go, ‘They’re workers like everyone else’, but the men’s season is seven months.
“Everybody else in the industry is working, media is covering it, coaches are working, players are playing.
“Why can’t we just get in front of it? Get it done because if you’re Carlton, you want this all put to bed on Monday if you’re playing on Thursday.
“We can’t keep saying we’re a professional game on all levels and then that’s an amateurish approach.”
Footy reporter Damian Barrett said he can’t see why the process needs to be longer than 48 hours. He even called for the Tribunal to be scrapped altogether.
“I’m big on actually removing the tribunal,” Barrett continued.
“To me, the Match Review Officer has to be fully AFL headquarters-operated, not an independent operator like Michael Christian. I’m not having a crack at Michael Christian, I think he’s done a good job this year, but he’s independent of operations.
“I think the AFL has to own it. They have to just remove the tribunals from their system and certainly remove retired players from sitting on the panel to adjudicate the outcomes of the tribunal system.
“Basically ban the lawyers who slow the entire process down.”
