Essendon coach Brad Scott has condemned the AFL for its lack of clarity surrounding incidental collisions in marking contests following GWS captain Toby Greene's one-match suspension.
Greene entered a marking contest with Carlton's Jordan Boyd on Saturday, leaving the ground to attempt to mark before bracing for and coming into contact with the Blues defender's head.
Toby Greene has been handed a one-match suspension following this incident with Jordan Boyd.
Full Saturday Match Review findings: https://t.co/9v0Idxiu0L pic.twitter.com/5OvkK6S6g6
— AFL (@AFL) April 21, 2024
The AFL graded the 2023 All-Australian skipper's contact as careless conduct, medium impact and high contact, with the club to challenge the decision on Tuesday at the Tribunal.
Bombers fans will be up in arms regarding the penalty handed down to Greene, given the incident is similar to that of Peter Wright's in Round 2.
Wright - who is set to return from his four-week suspension for Thursday's Anzac Day clash with Collingwood - was penalised for entering a marking contest, collecting Sydney defender Harry Cunningham whilst bracing for contact.
The Essendon forward was sent straight to the Tribunal (given the MRO graded the contact 3+ weeks) given the "severe impact" as a result of Cunningham's concussion and subsequent stretchering off.
Greene's was only 'medium impact' as Boyd continued to play out the game.
Following the loss to the Blues, Giants coach Adam Kingsley dismissed the idea of there being a case to answer given the legitimacy of his captain's contest for the ball.
โWhich incident? Was that the one in front of the bench? Yeah, (there) won't be anything in that,โ Kingsley said.
In agreement with his fellow coach, Scott alluded to the fact that Greene should be able to contest for the ball (like Wright), questioning the Tribunal's capacity to deal with similar matters.
Harry Cunningham has come from the ground after this collision with Peter Wright.#AFLSwansDons pic.twitter.com/e3OqI5FnJN
— 7AFL (@7AFL) March 23, 2024
โIt's basically put back to the club to challenge it if they disagree, and the system is not set up for that โฆ you don't go to the tribunal with an โinnocent until proven guilty', you go to the tribunal if you're guilty and you have to prove your innocence, that's the system," Scott said on Monday, viaย News Corp.
โ(Kingsley said) you're allowed to look at the ball, launch and try to mark the ball, and (Wright) is just nodding his head saying, โYes, I agree with that'.
โI can show you so many examples where there are collisions with players with their eyes on the ball, but if one player gets concussed, the AFL holds someone liable for it โฆ almost all cases now.
โClearly the AFL determine a penalty based on outcome, not on action โ that's abundantly clear now to everyone."
The Bombers coach also flagged the difficulty in instructing players how to attack the ball in marking contests, noting the absence of clarity provided by the AFL.
โAll we can say to Pete is โkeep your eyes on the ball, attack the contest' โ the players are in an incredibly difficult position at the moment, and as a coaching group we're just trying to get some clarity on how we should instruct our players,โ Scott said.
โThe instruction we've given them to this point is just โgo for the ball, and keep your eyes on the ball'.
โWe do seek clarification, very rarely, but sometimes on how we should instruct the players."
Joining Greene on Tuesday at the Tribunal is teammate Jesse Hogan and West Coast defender Tom Barrass.
