The AFL tribunal will sit for a third straight week after Carlton and North Melbourne both indicated they’d challenge suspensions handed to their respective players.
Match Review Officer Michael Christian’s findings from Saturday’s Round 3 games were released on Sunday night, with three players given one-match bans: North Melbourne’s Griffin Logue, Carlton’s Blake Acres and Adelaide’s Luke Pedlar.
While the Crows accepted the Pedlar penalty, the Kangaroos and Blues on Monday confirmed they’d go to the tribunal to challenge the Logue and Acres suspensions respectively.
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Logue was charged by the MRO with rough conduct for his collision with Hawthorn midfielder Will Day during the Hawks’ gritty win in Launceston.
Logue and Day were both running towards a loose ball during the third quarter before it bounced into Logue’s leg. However the North Melbourne defender braced, lifted one leg up and appeared to make contact with Day’s neck/shoulder region.
Christian graded Logue’s hit as careless conduct, high contact and, crucially, medium impact — even though Day was able to quickly recover, remain involved in the contest and continue playing.
Acres’ contact with Giant Brent Daniels in the fourth quarter of Carlton’s win received the same gradings as Logue’s incident: Careless conduct, high contact and medium impact, equating to a one-match ban.
The MRO in Round 1 elevated the ‘impact’ grading of two incidents — Kysaiah Pickett’s bump on Bailey Smith and Shane McAdam’s bump on Jacob Wehr — as they had the potential to cause injury, despite neither Smith nor Wehr being ruled out of their respective matches due to concussion post-bump.
Pickett was handed a two-week ban by the MRO — which wasn’t challenged by the Demons — while McAdam was sent straight to the tribunal, where he was handed a three-match suspension.
Pedlar was cited for a dangerous tackle on Port Adelaide’s Dan Houston during Adelaide’s Showdown win. The rough conduct charge was also graded as careless conduct, high contact and medium impact. Adelaide accepted the one-match ban.
Elsewhere, Hawthorn midfielder Jai Newcombe escaped with a $1500 fine for ‘misconduct’ after he appeared to pull Logue’s arm back while the Kangaroos player was lying face first on the UTAS Stadium turf.
