Australian Football Association of North America

by Lisa Albergo reporting for AFANA from Chicago

TRIBUNAL

While no charges were laid, Collingwood Coach Mick Malthouse and his assistant Paul Licuria as well as Saint Stephen Milne were all fined for a fiery verbal exchange at one of the breaks during the Friday night game. Licuria referred to Milne as a rapist (a reference to a non-incident many years ago in which a woman made false allegations against Milne and another teammate), someone's sexual preference was alleged, and Milne called Malthouse old. All parties later apologized, with Malthouse admitting he should have known better. The apologies were accepted all around and both clubs considered the matter closed. However, despite St. Kilda not lodging a formal complaint, the AFL stepped in and slapped all three with fines. Malthouse copped the biggest fine to the tune of $7500. Milne and Licuria were fined $3500 each.

Charges Laid:

Andrew Swallow (NM), making negligent contact with an umpire. It is his second offense which incurs a $2400 fine. He accepted, reducing the penalty 25% to $1800. In summary, he can accept an $1800 sanction with an early plea.

Mitch Clark (BRIS), striking Port Adelaide's Jackson Trengove: assessed as intentional conduct (three points), low impact (one point) and high contact (two points), equaling six activation points, Level Three offense, 225 demerits and a two game suspension. He has no record and accepted, reducing the penalty 25% to 168.75 demerits and a one game suspension.

Ashley McGrath (BRIS), misconduct for unreasonable and unnecessary contact to the face of Port Adelaide's Cameron Cloke: assessed as reckless conduct (two points), low impact (one point) and high contact (two points), equaling five activation points, a Level Two offense, 225 demerits, and a two game suspension. He has no record and accepted, reducing the penalty 25% to 168.75 demerits and a one game suspension. .

Kieren Jack (SYD), negligent contact with an umpire. It is his first offense which incurs a fine of $1200. He accepted, reducing the penalty 25% to $900.

Dustin Martin (RICH), bumping or making forceful contact from front-on against Sydney's Josh Kennedy: assessed as negligent conduct (one point), low impact (one point) and high contact (two points), equaling four activation points, a Level One offense, 125 demerits, and a one game suspension. He has no record and accepted, reducing the penalty 25% to 93.75 demerits and a reprimand with the demerits held over toward his future record.

Chance Bateman (HAW), wrestling Bulldog Shaun Higgins. It is his second offense which incurs a $2400 fine. He accepted, reducing the fine 25% to $1800.

Lance Franklin (HAW), rough conduct offense against Bulldog Jason Akermanis: assessed as negligent conduct (one point), low impact (one point) and high contact (two points), equaling four activation points, a Level One offense, 125 demerits and a one game suspension. He has a prior record of two games suspended within the past three years which increases the penalty 20% to 150 demerits. He also has 25 demerits held over from the past year, further increasing the penalty to 175 demerits. He accepted, reducing the penalty 25% to 131.25 demerits and a one game suspension with 31.25 demerits held over toward his future record.

Hayden Ballantyne (FRE), pinching Geelong's Gary Ablett. It is his first offense which incurs a fine of $1200. He accepted, reducing the fine 25% to $900.

The match day report against West Coast’s Ashley Hansen for striking North Melbourne’s Daniel Wells was assessed by the Match Review Panel. The MRP ruled that Hansen’s arm was extended in a tackling motion, not a striking motion and that the force used was below that required to constitute a reportable offense and dismissed the report. .

The contact between three Melbourne players and Adelaide’s Patrick Dangerfield, who suffered a minor neck injury as a result, was also reviewed to determine if a report was warranted. The MRP ruled that Dangerfield was in possession of the ball and attempting to break through a pack of players when he was gang tackled by several Melbourne players. The panel further determined that the tackle did not sling Dangerfield to the ground, but only forced him forward, thus not a reportable offense.

The MRP also reviewed the collision between Bulldog Jarrod Harbrow and Hawthorn's Jordan Lewis to determine if a charge was warranted. The MRP ruled that both players had their eyes on the ball only at all times prior to the collision, deeming it a legitimate attempt by Harbrow to prevent Lewis from marking the ball, and therefore not warranting a charge.

Source: Patrick Keane, AFL Media Release