St Kilda's challenge of Alix Tauru's rough conduct charge has been unsuccessful at the VFL Tribunal.
Tauru was handed a minimum four-game suspension by the VFL's Match Review Panel for a bump on Brisbane's Curtis McCarthy in the third term of the weekend's match between Sandringham and Brisbane.
The MRP graded Tauru's actions as careless conduct, severe impact and high contact, resulting in a base sanction of at least four matches.
A medical report confirmed McCarthy suffered a concussion as a result of the incident and appeared to be knocked out from the impact. He will miss 21 days under the VFL's concussion protocols.
First year Saint Alix Tauru has been handed a four-match suspension for this incident in the VFL.
Full details: https://t.co/ozfsakAWFN pic.twitter.com/BlfJ1EJrQ6
— AFL (@AFL) April 28, 2025
St Kilda argued Tauru's actions were neither careless nor unreasonable. If that argument was unsuccessful, the Saints looked to reduce the impact grading from 'severe' to 'high'.
The Saints relied on past examples including Liam Baker on Lewis Melican and Tarni White on Madeline Collier. Both cases failed at the AFL Tribunal, resulting in one and three-game suspensions respectively.
St Kilda requested evidence examples of an incident involving Tom Gross and Harry McKay from this year, and one with Kysaiah Pickett and Bailey Smith from 2023, to be used. They were denied.
Tauru, who confirmed he had never been suspended or charged for a disciplinary offence during his junior career, gave evidence during the hearing.
Asked if he was expecting to make his AFL debut this week, Tauru said: "So I heard."
Questioned on the incident itself, Tauru said he looked to protect himself and that there wasn't enough time to avoid contact with McCarthy.
"I was a lot slower than he was," Tauru said.
"I was protecting myself. In real time it's hard to get out of the way of that. I don't think I was aware he didn't have the ball.
"I braced for impact and took the hit... He just came off second best.
"As I was coming in to tackle him, I had momentum. I leaned more forwards than back. If I tried to dive out of the way he could've ran right through me. It was my instinct to hold my strongest stance and be strong in the contest.
"It was hard to get out of the way. I didn't specifically elect to bump, I just didn't have time to get out of the way."
Asked if he had an action that moved toward McCarthy, Tauru said: "That wasn't my intention. I just had my weight on my front foot."
Asked if he could have contested the ball, Tauru said: "Absolutely not. When we play it slow it looks like I have more time, but I didn't have enough time.
"There was not enough time to go for the ball. It was not meant to be forceful, I was not looking to harm him.
"Since he had the ball I prepared to tackle him, the ball spills out and I'm already (in that motion)."
Tauru denied he could have attempted to pivot away from McCarthy.
"It felt like that was the safest way," he said of his actions.
"If I was any lower, I get bowled completely over. It was the strongest position to be in."
The VFL argued Tauru could have either pivoted away from McCarthy, gone for the ball, or bumped in an alternative fashion to not collect McCarthy high.
AFL Victoria and VFL Counsel Morgan McLay said Tauru's actions were 'unreasonable in the circumstances' and 'breached his duty of care'.
McLay said: "There was nothing of McCarthy's positioning that was out of the ordinary."
St Kilda Counsel Michael Borsky argued Tauru's actions were that of a "football act", and that the momentum of the collision came from McCarthy.
While not blaming the injured McCarthy, Borsky said Tauru was a "sitting duck".
"This was a football act, not a decision nor election to bump. There was no time to make a decision to bump or get out of the way of player McCarthy," he said.
"The impact was from player McCarthy, not Tauru. Tauru was essentially still. Not perfectly still, but essentially still. Player McCarthy was approaching at pace.
"The momentum was all from player McCarthy, not from player Tauru.
"This charge falls at the first threshold, because it was not a bump.
"Player McCarthy was the one that charged 25 metres to this collision. It was a football act.
"[Tauru] was a sitting duck. Unfortunately and accidentally, there's contact between his body and the high part of McCarthy.
The Tribunal, chaired by Tim Bourke (Chair) and featuring Wayne Henwood and Stephen Jurica, stated in their summation that Tauru's actions were "careless and not reasonable" and upheld the suspension of four matches.
Summation:
"Rough conduct is interpreted widely and may be contact which is unreasonable in the circumstances. It's a reportable offence for a person to intentionally or carelessly engage in rough conduct against other persons which is unreasonable in the circumstances.
"We heard evidence from player Tauru. We, however, did not accept the evidence of player Tauru, and according to the video evidence, shows the momentum of player McCarthy. He fumbles the ball, player Tauru was in his path. The movement of player Tauru and his body was close to full height to bump player McCarthy. Not lining him up at all, but basically producing a wall or blockage to player McCarthy, and he had power in maintaining his feet and in fact the video clearly shows player McCarthy was slowing, not maintaining momentum towards the contact.
"The conduct of player Tauru has potential to cause injury, as player McCarthy has been injured. He elected to bump his player, he got down low in position, leaned forward and makes impact to the chin when not contesting the ball. There were alternative options for player Tauru. His actions were careless and, in our view, not reasonable.
"The impact was with force to the head and with potential to cause serious injury. Player McCarthy will miss 21 days before being assessed again.
"The evidence we find of player Tauru does not mirror the video footage, and it was not, in our view, an act of football, and accordingly we find that the conduct was careless and the impact severe.
"We are then asked to turn our minds to whether there are exceptional and compelling circumstances, by virtue of the player's perfect record and whether we exercise our discretion and take into account as a combination of factors. We were not satisfied that our discretion ought to be exercised in the circumstances, and in the circumstances the result is a base sanction of four weeks of suspension."
The verdict means Tauru is unavailable to face Fremantle, Carlton, West Coast and Gold Coast at AFL level, while the Zebras are set to go up against Carlton, Werribee, Gold Coast and Frankston following their Round 6 bye.
