Richmond forward Rhyan Mansell is facing the prospect of a landmark suspension for a push on Liam O’Connell that resulted in the St Kilda defender being concussed.
O’Connell was shoved into the direction of Richmond spearhead Tom Lynch during the first quarter of the Saints’ 82-point demolition at Marvel Stadium on Saturday.
When attacking the ball, Lynch unintentionally collided with O’Connell, leaving the Irishman dazed and confused, and he was subbed out of the contest shortly after.
Players pushing opponents into dangerous positions has emerged as a trend this season, but the match review officer is yet to suspend anyone for the act.
But that could change on Sunday after the AFL recently issued a memo to clubs warning them of the dangers of recklessly pushing other players.
A suspension for Mansell could be as many as three games, with a possible grading of careless conduct, high contact and severe impact.
Richmond’s No.1 draft pick Sam Lalor suffered a broken jaw and a concussion in a pre-season game in February after being nudged into a contest by West Coast’s Reuben Ginbey.
Debate, however, erupted on Fox Footy over the incident, with Mansell’s former teammate and Tigers great Jack Riewoldt suggesting ‘grey areas’ in the league’s rules could give Richmond the chance to overturn any suspension at the Tribunal, which co-panellist David King vehemently disagreed with.
“I think, quietly, Richmond would be seething about this if it does go down as a three-match suspension,” Riewoldt said.
“If I’m Richmond, I’m mounting a case – could he foresee [the collision]? He’s engaging his opponent; does he know that that contest is coming behind him?
“Certainly, we don’t want to see players being knocked out of the game, but I think there’s enough grey area here.”
King questioned whether Riewoldt’s defence was ‘a Richmond thing’, saying the AFL needs to act to stamp similar incidents out of the game.
“You have a duty of care to that player – if you push him into oncoming traffic, you waive that right,” King said.
“It’s such a dangerous action. We’ve talked about this for six weeks – they’ve sent the memo out, players are aware. And if you’re not aware, you’ll learn pretty quickly: you’ll spend six weeks on the sidelines.
“A guy’s concussed – we have to stamp it out, Jack. You can’t just roll on and say ‘oh, there’s a lot of mitigating factors’. He’s pushed him into two players who are 100 kilos coming at full speed [in] the other direction.”
SEN’s David Schwarz was even more critical of Riewoldt’s take, saying he needed to take off his ‘rose-coloured glasses’ to make it in the media.
“I heard Jack Riewoldt try to justify why this was happening, but there is no justification,” Schwarz said on Point of View.
“If you are pushing players into oncoming traffic, it is dangerous and you’ve got a duty of care.
“You cannot have the rose coloured glasses on – Jack is going to learn that over the next few years that if he is going to stay in the media, you cannot have those lenses on. If you want credibility, you cannot defend that.
“That is a three-week offence. There is no excuse with this. It is dangerous, it is high impact, it’s very reckless.”
Tigers coach Adem Yze made sure to reference that incident when asked about Mansell’s push.
“Based on previous incidents, I don’t think that has been an issue,” Yze said.
“So hopefully ours isn’t either.
“We had Sammy Lalor break his jaw, if it is a similar incident, so it’s pretty hard to change the rules during the season.”
Emerging St Kilda star Mitch Owens copped a shoulder injury during a pre-season match when he was pushed into an opponent.
Sidelined Brisbane Lions defender Brandon Starcevich suffered the first of his two concussions this year when he was shoved into a contest in a practice game against Adeaide.
Saints coach Ross Lyon claimed he hadn’t seen the incident that led to O’Connell being forced out of the game and into concussion protocols.
“He’s got a shiner, but I know you’re not going to believe this, but I didn’t see it, so I didn’t review it,” Lyon said.
“I’ll leave it to the power brokers, the decision makers.
“Clearly, it seems like it’s a head office situation.”
(with AAP)
