Carlton’s Adam Cerra has received a $5,500 fine after being the test case for the AFL’s controversial crackdown on umpire contact.
He was referred directly to the tribunal over his latest case of careless umpire contact, where he collided with umpire Rob O’Gorman during his side’s loss to Brisbane.
He was facing a possible suspension, but after pleading guilty just minutes into the hearing, it then became an argument for nearly 45 minutes over how much he would be fined exactly.
Carlton says the sanction should have been no more than $5000, but the AFL wanted it to be $6,250.
“$1,250 more (than the normal fine) is an appropriate increase to achieve specific and general deterrence,” the AFL’s legal representative Andrew Woods, told the hearing.
Blues representative, Elizabeth Bateman noted Cerra may have challenged previous umpire contact offences if aware of this ‘crackdown’ at the time.
“To penalise Cerra for the fact that there are a lot of umpire contacts this year would be unfair. It would be punishing him for events that he has absolutely no control over,” she said.
After a further 30 minutes of deliberation, taking the total hearing time to 75 minutes, the tribunal was closer to Carlton’s request in penalising Cerra $5,500.
It was the fourth time he had been booked for the offence within two years, triggering the hearing. He is the first player to fall foul of the new measures.
In a busy night for the tribunal, Brisbane’s Zac Bailey will challenge the one-match suspension handed to him by the MRO for rough conduct.
Then later, North Melbourne will contest the ban handed to Tristan Xerri for the strike that knocked out Melbourne’s Tom Sparrow, meaning the AFL Tribunal is set to hear three cases this week.
The Match Review Office assessed the Xerri incident as high contact, severe impact and careless conduct, resulting in a three-game suspension.
The Kangaroo’s attempted tackle on Sparrow caught his opponent high in the immediate follow-up play after a boundary throw-in during Melbourne’s 36-point win on Sunday.
Sparrow was knocked out and eventually taken off on a stretcher, and has been put in concussion protocols.
Kangaroos coach Clarkson defended his player, referencing a separate incident, in which North’s Luke Davies-Uniacke was concussed by Western Bulldogs midfielder Ed Richards one week earlier, when asked post-match about Xerri’s contact.
“We’re at (the AFL’s) discretion. They’ll look at every concussion,” Clarkson said post-game.
“But they looked at LDU’s concussion last week and said no case to answer, and that’s a raised forearm to the scone.
“This is just a tackle … he’s got very, very little time to prepare for the tackle.
“That will be up to the AFL to work out, but unfortunately in the game there’s going to be collisions, especially around stoppage and especially around the big rucks.”
Demons teammate Max Gawn ran in immediately after the incident, which sparked an all-in scuffle, but he told FoxFooty after the game that he had to respond.
“I haven’t seen any vision of it since. Xerri, I know as a ruck, he’s following up as hard as he can, and he’s the best in the comp at doing it, so there’s definitely an element of that,” he said.
“I thought it was high.
“Once I saw my teammate down I had to respond.”
– with AAP
