Essendon coach Brad Scott is bemused by the club's upcoming Tribunal case surrounding Dylan Shiel's shove of Geelong defender Mark O'Connor during Friday night's clash at GMHBA Stadium.
Shiel was referred directly to the Tribunal and will front the panel on Tuesday afternoon (4pm AEST). But a peculiar note was that the Match Review Officer (MRO) was unable to grade the incident, which caught the eye of Scott.
"It seems like a test case," Scott said.
"It's been ungraded, and sent to the Tribunal. It looks to me that it's a hard one for the MRO to come to a decision on, so they've sent it to the Tribunal to get their opinion.
"We have a high level of confidence in our case, though."
Dylan Shiel has been referred directly to the Tribunal for this incident involving Luamon Lual and Mark O'Connor. pic.twitter.com/OezfJR9rX0
— AFL (@AFL) August 9, 2025
The outcome of the incident was a free kick to the Cats, Bombers youngster Luamon Lual feeling worse for wear, and a Tribunal hearing, which the Essendon coach deemed a "triple whammy".
"There've been multiple cases over the past few years where players have been pushed into contests, and it's resulted in an injury to an opposition player," Scott said.
"But talk about a triple whammy. We had a player injured, a free kick against and then a Tribunal case. We've been penalised three times without the opposition actually being the victim, as far as I can see.
"The Geelong player wasn't injured... [I] struggle to see how there's a case to answer. It's ungraded, so I'm not even sure what the charge is to work out what the grade is.
"It looks to me that they don't know either."
Incidents like Shiel's have been put on notice by the AFL throughout 2025, with the league suspending Richmond's Rhyan Mansell for a similar collision.
West Coast's Reuben Ginbey avoided punishment for his pre-season shove, while Brisbane's Brandon Starcevich and St Kilda's Mitch Owens sustained injuries in comparable circumstances.
The Bombers will already be without captain Zach Merrett and emerging forward Archer May for Thursday's clash against St Kilda at Marvel Stadium.
Merrett fractured his hand during the loss to the Cats and had successful surgery that puts him in the frame before the season concludes, while May rolled his ankle and is in jeopardy of being sidelined for the remainder of 2025.
