Herald Sun reporter Jon Anderson talks to Fox Sports about the suspension of Melbourne Demons' Jack Viney, which he views as a landmark decision.
Jack Viney arrives at the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday. Picture: Michael Klein Source: News Corp Australia
THE AFL Players Association says the decision to suspend Melbourne’s Jack Viney has sent a message of uncertainty to players which has the potential to increase the risk of injury.
Speaking on Melbourne radio on Wednesday morning, acting AFLPA chief executive Ian Prendergast said he thought the AFL Tribunal’s decision to ban Viney for two matches was wrong and went against a player’s instinct to protect himself.
Asked if he believed the tribunal got it right, Prendergast said: “I don’t think they did.”
He said the AFLPA had supported and encouraged measures introduced to protect players against serious head clashes, but thinks on this occasion the lawmakers might have gone too far.
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“I think last night’s decision has caused a fair bit of uncertainty amongst the players, just regarding their ability to brace themselves in the contest,” Prendergast told SEN.
“It’s important from our point of view to also have a form of protection given the nature of our game and it just doesn’t feel right, that decision.
“We’re concerned that the uncertainty potentially leads to the wrong message being sent to players in that they can’t protect themselves in the contest and therefore could even increase the risk of players receiving head injuries.”
Prendergast said the Viney matter was now a case for the Demons — via an appeal — or AFL football operations manager Mark Evans, but the players association would likely have a say at some point.
“Our main involvement is through the Laws of the Game process ... I certainly think that this decision is not in the spirit of what we feel like we’ve agreed to through the Laws of the Game process,” he said.
Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley says he was surprised to see Melbourne's Jack Viney suspended for his bump on Tom Lynch, insisting it was a mere accident.
“Certainly if this is going to be considered a bump, then any act where a player is protecting himself would be defined in that way.
“And even if it was considered that way by the Tribunal, I don’t think he did have any other realistic alternative, so that’s why this confusion is not going to help in my view and hopefully (it is) rectified through an appeal so this balance position can be restored.”
Last night the AFL Tribunal suspended Viney for two matches after finding him guilty of rough conduct.
Adelaide’s Tom Lynch suffered a broken jaw when he was sandwiched in a collision between the oncoming Viney and Demons defender Alex Georgiou in the first quarter of Saturday’s game at Adelaide Oval.
Acting AFLPA chief executive Ian Prendergast believes last night’s Tribunal decision has created confusion. Source: News Limited
Lynch is set to miss six weeks of football as a result of the incident, but Viney, via player advocate Iain Findlay, pleaded “most certainly not guilty” to the rough conduct charge.
Viney said he initially felt he had “a reasonable opportunity to win the football”, but then changed tack once Lynch got to the ball first.
“Not at any stage was I trying to bump him, I was just trying to brace for impact,” Viney said during the hearing.
However, after a 71-minute hearing at Etihad Stadium, it took the three-man jury of Wayne Henwood, Emmett Dunne and Wayne Schimmelbusch 17 minutes to come to a guilty verdict.
The 20-year-old’s conduct was assessed as negligent and the level of impact came back as medium, meaning he was assigned 200 demerit points which results in a two-match suspension with no carry-over points.
Current players — including many of Viney’s teammates — and former stars were quick to criticise the outcome.
Hawthorn champion Dermott Brereton even said he would not attend this year’s AFL Hall of Fame function as a protest for a decision he described as “fundamentally wrong”.
Viney will miss games against the Western Bulldogs (Saturday night) and Richmond (May 17).
“We felt that we had a very strong defence and we felt that we had every chance to present that,” Melbourne football manager Josh Mahoney said last night,
“When we sat down and saw this charge earlier in the week ... we thought we had a strong defence and that’s why (coach) Paul Roos was here today to help that defence.
“So we thought it was a strong enough defence, but that was the decision of the tribunal.”
Mahoney said the club would investigate avenues of appeal.
But it is understood that any appeal may be in vain as there was only one point in question last night, whether or not Viney bumped Lynch, and the tribunal decided that he had.
Findlay was able to call upon Georgiou to give evidence, but his request to also call coach Roos to the stand failed.
Georgiou said he trailed Lynch into the centre square and when his opponent took possession of the ball he tackled him and dropped his legs in an attempt to bring him to the ground.
Georgiou said it was the momentum of he and Lynch which took them in to a “stationary” Viney.
Viney said: “I felt like I had a reasonable opportunity to win the football, so I took off after the footy.
Viney leaves the tribunal flanked by player advocate Iain Findlay and teammate Alex Geogiou. Picture: Michael Klein Source: News Corp Australia
“There was a point in time when the ball could have bounced my way ... but the moment that it bounced in Tom’s favour I pivoted on my right foot ... and braced myself for impact once I saw Georgiou and Lynch running at full pace towards me.”
AFL legal counsel Jeff Gleeson said it was up to the interpretation of the three-man jury as to whether or not Viney voluntarily and intentionally bumped Lynch, but if they deemed that he did so then he argued that Viney must be suspended due to the injury suffered by Lynch.
Demons players vented their frustrations on Twitter.
Jack Trengove simply tweeted “interesting”, Cam Pedersen said “So apparently we should all step aside and have no contact in football” and Tom McDonald said of the tribunal “Well they haven’t played footy before then ...”
Melbourne's Jack Viney has been handed a two-match ban by the tribunal after being found guilty of a bump on Tom Lynch, while Richmond's Brett Deledio walked away from a striking charge with just a reprimand.
Speaking on SEN radio, Brereton said: “I am staggered ... I don’t know how to feel about this, I’m really disappointed by this.
“As a little bit of a protest against this and going against the grain of the game I’m in the Hall of Fame, I love going to those functions, for a start I’m not going to turn up to that, that can get stuffed this year, I’m not doing anything for them, I’m not turning up to their functions because this is just fundamentally wrong.”
As a result of already suffering three concussions and a broken jaw in his 18-game AFL career, Findlay said Viney had been coached how to better manoeuvre his body prior to collisions in order to avoid suffering further injuries.
- with Ben Broad
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