AFL News: 'Just cannot accept that': Dangerfield learns Tribunal fate after heated exchange, injuries cause havoc (2024)

Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield has been cleared for his dangerous tackle on Sam Walsh on Friday night, after a tense hearing that featured several terse exchanges between the Cats star and the AFL’s appointed lawyer.

Dangerfield conceded a free kick in the opening minutes of the Cats’ loss to Carlton, after tackling the Blues star from behind and pinning his arms, with Walsh taken forward in the tackle and hitting his head on the ground.

AFL Match Review Officer Michael Christian graded the incident as careless conduct with medium impact and high contact to trigger the one match ban, but the Cats sought to challenge the verdict, claiming Dangerfield’s tackle was not unreasonable in the circ*mstances and therefore shouldn’t be graded as rough conduct.

However, the Tribunal overturned the suspension, clearing Dangerfield for a crunch clash with Essendon on Saturday night.

The verdict comes after a tense hearing where Dangerfield repeatedly clashed with AFL counsel Andrew Woods over the league’s claim his tackle on Walsh violated his duty of care.

“My first reaction is to grab him [Walsh], tackle him, pin him first and then as you see in the vision, bring him to ground, fully aware of where the rules of at, cognisant of being first to the ground and of how hard and forceful my tackle is,” Dangerfield said, according to Fox Footy reporter David Zita.

“I knew I was tackling him from behind, I was conscious of not driving through Sam as that would result in a free kick.

“So my first reaction once I grabbed Sam and had a hold of both arms was pulling him back to stop both us moving forward… then I slid my legs underneath his to absorb the force once I’d taken him to ground.

“I get you can freeze frame and slow anything down and frame an argument around it. But the facts are you don’t tackle in this way unless you’re really conscious of what the landing mechanism is.

“If you wanted to bury him, you’d keep your legs behind him. This is the complete opposite of that.”

Dangerfield also claimed pinning both Walsh’s arms was his ‘only way… to influence how hard I lay the tackle’.

“If I were to release one arm, I have absolutely no control over the top of his body,” he said.

When challenged by Woods that he should have released one of Walsh’s arms to allow the Blue to brace for contact and avoid his head hitting the ground, Dangerfield replied “You can suggest that, but I don’t agree with you.”

“I’m not disputing I pinned both arms, but I will argue all day with you that not pinning them [would have] provided less contact,” he added.

“I just cannot accept that.”

Zita noted on X that the interaction with Woods was ‘as nasty as Patrick Dangerfield has ever been’.

Cats counsel Ben Ihle claimed the uncontrollable circ*mstances of Walsh’s knees ‘digging into the ground’ and him landing on the football contributed more to his head hitting the ground than Dangerfield’s tackle, saying the Cat’s duty of care towards his opponent was not violated.

“This is still a game where tackling is permitted, and tackling by holding a player by both arms is still permitted,” he said, adding that the league’s guidelines only ask for ‘reasonable care’ to be taken in a tackle, rather than the league’s push for ‘perfection’.

“This is a responsible, thoughtful player acting reasonably,” Ihle summed up.

In explaining the decision, the Tribunal deemed it a ‘rare, even exceptional case’, saying Dangerfield showed ‘considerable care’.

“Although not immediately apparent and not truly apparent until all angles and vision and still shots had been carefully considered, the evidence is clear here Dangerfield immediately swung his legs beside and forward of Walsh, and pulled back with considerable force to attempt to prevent Walsh being driven into the ground,” the Tribunal statement reads.

“Vision shows Dangerfield managed to pull him back so that at one point Walsh’s torso was almost vertical.

“Would it have been reasonably possible for Dangerfield to release one or both of Walsh’s arms? Yes it would, but that’s not the test. The question is whether it was unreasonable in the circ*mstances not to do so.

“From the considerable care that Dangerfield went to in a short space of time in a fast moving piece of play to do what he could to avoid or minimise injury to his fellow player, we find that this was not rough conduct.”

Hawkins hit for six

Geelong veteran Tom Hawkins is out for up to eight weeks but remains confident a foot injury won’t end his decorated career.

The Cats say their games-record holder will miss six to eight weeks because of an atypical mid foot joint and ligament injury in his left foot. The 35-year-old is uncontracted beyond this season and Geelong have nine games remaining before any finals campaign.

“Tom has already been in the club today and commenced his off-foot training,” Cats football manager Andrew Mackie said. “He’ll remain in a boot for the next couple of weeks before progressing based on clinical signs.

“Tom is in a positive and optimistic mindset and we are confident he will give himself the best chance to have an impact later in the season.”

Fremantle’s stocks have also taken a hit with skipper Alex Pearce sidelined for a month by a broken arm.

Pearce was hurt in last Sunday’s win against Gold Coast, landing awkwardly on his left forearm in a marking contest.

Scans have confirmed a fracture and the 29-year-old will have surgery later this week.

“Obviously disappointing to lose Alex for the next few weeks,” Fremantle’s football manager Joe Brierty said.

“He has had a fantastic year down back to date and his leadership has been second to none.”

Pearce has been the backbone of the fifth-placed Dockers’ defence, which has conceded second-fewest scores, behind ladder leaders Sydney, this season.

The Swans host Freo at the SCG on Saturday afternoon.

Meanwhile, Port Adelaide ruck Ivan Soldo will miss a month because of ongoing knee soreness.

Soldo, who returned to AFL ranks a fortnight ago after arthroscopic surgery in late April, is suffering scar tissue irritation.

His teammate Jase Burgoyne has a hamstring strain and will be sidelined at least a fortnight.

with AAP