Fremantle veteran Nat Fyfe has failed to overturn his one-match striking suspension at the AFL Tribunal, ruling him out of the Dockers’ crucial clash against Essendon.
Fyfe was handed the ban for striking West Coast’s Jai Culley during a spiteful Derby, with Match Review Officer Michael Christian deeming the off-the-ball hit as intentional conduct, low impact and high contact – an identical sanction to Sydney star Isaac Heeney’s controversial ban for striking St Kilda’s Jimmy Webster that ended his Brownlow Medal hopes.
The Dockers argued that the hit was not a strike, and if judged so should be graded as ‘careless’ conduct rather than intentional.
Fremantle counsel Seamus Rafferty argued Fyfe actually pushed Culley in the chest rather than to the head, and claimed the incident was a ‘perfectly legitimate football action’.
“Fyfe’s arm never goes above his own chest height, towards a person who is almost exactly the same height,” Rafferty added.
“It’s a genuine push in response to another player pushing him.”
Rafferty also put forward the lack of medical treatment for Culley after the incident as proof the contact was negligible.
According to Fox Footy reporter David Zita, Rafferty listed eleven facts in relation to the incident that should exonerate Fyfe.
AFL counsel Andrew Woods argued the vision proved Fyfe’s act was ‘what anyone would understand to be a strike’.
In upholding the ban, the Tribunal said Fyfe’s arm was ‘swung with speed and the impact was not inconsiderable’.
“We are satisfied Nathan Fyfe intentionally struck Jai Culley,” the Tribunal’s statement reads.
“The vision shown at normal speed appears to show Fyfe intentionally struck Culley.
“There is no evidence from Fyfe that he did not intend to do what the normal speed vision appears to show he did intend to do. We wish to stress that Fyfe carries no onus of proof, he is certainly not obliged to give evidence we draw. We draw no adverse inference from him failing to do so. We simply note this leaves us largely with just the video vision and the medical report.
“The video shows that Fyfe’s right arm is thrown towards Culley with considerable force and in a manner more consistent with a strike than was the case with his left arm.
“Fyfe’s body turns to the right in a manner consistent with an intent to strike.
“The Tribunal guidelines note and we find that a strike can occur with an open hand. It’s not entirely clear whether Fyfe had an open hand, but even if he did, this was a movement of his arm consistent with an intent to strike.
“If we are wrong about Fyfe’s actual intention, we note the guidelines, which are directory in nature, provide that where a player intends to forcefully push or offend an opposition player off the ball, including to gain separation for the purpose of contesting the ball, and the effect is that the player commits the reportable offense of striking, the strike will usually be graded as intentional.
“Fyfe’s intention was at least to push Culley off the ball to gain separation, and the effect was that he committed the reportable offence of striking. Accordingly, taking this guideline into account, we find that this should be graded as intentional. As to impact, we are satisfied it should be graded as low impact.
“Vision shows it struck Culley with more than negligible force. This would have been the case even without Culley’s momentum towards Fyfe. The arm was swung with speed and the impact was not inconsiderable.
“Culley was not injured, but he was clearly hurt, and the potential for injury was not insignificant. For those reasons we classify the strike in accordance with the MRO classification.”
Fyfe’s hearing came after Gold Coast defender Bodhi Uwland successfully overturned his one-match ban for a dangerous tackle on Brisbane star Lachie Neale.
Uwland’s tackle, which successfully trapped Neale holding the ball during the QClash, was graded by Christian as careless conduct with medium impact and high contact.
However, the Suns successfully argued the tackle was reasonable under the circumstances and not likely to cause injury to Neale, with Uwland himself giving evidence that Neale’s arms were free in the tackle and that the Lion initiated the force that took him to ground.
The AFL argued in response that Uwland should have tried to hold Neale up or attempted to turn him.
In clearing the Sun, the Tribunal determined that they were ‘not clearly satisfied that Uwland pushed or drove Neale into the ground’.
“Uwland initially attempted to rotate Neale to the right and was not able to do so,” the statement reads.
“Momentum shifted between the players and Neale landed on his back. It’s not entirely clear what caused the change in momentum resulting in Neale landing on his back.
“We are not clearly satisfied that Uwland pushed or drove Neale into the ground. We note in particular that Uwland’s feet lost purchase with the ground, making it unlikely that his force was the ultimate cause of Neale making forceful contact with the ground with his head.
“Accordingly, we do not find that this was rough conduct against an opposition player, which in the circumstances, was unreasonable.”
Uwland’s successful overturn clears him for the Suns’ crucial clash with West Coast on Friday night.
Even Western Bulldogs star Adam Treloar admits he is in career-best form ahead of his 250th game.
The gun midfielder is making a compelling case to be named All-Australian for the first time, helping power the Bulldogs’ push to lock in a finals spot.
Treloar put in another best-on-ground performance on Sunday, gathering 40 possessions as the Bulldogs dismantled ladder-leaders Sydney by 39 points at the SCG for their third-straight win – all coming against top-eight sides.
“I’ve been able to play a good amount of footy at a high-level for a long, sustained period,” the 31-year-old said on Tuesday.
“As a season itself, yeah I would say it’s probably my best season so far.
“But there’s still games to go and hopefully there’s a deep finals run as well.
“I’m just really enjoying coming into the workplace and I’m one of the older boys here now.
“I don’t take for granted the position that I’m in and I love this footy club.”
After playing 79 games as an inaugural member of GWS’s squad, Treloar played 94 matches with Collingwood.
But he was infamously encouraged to move on from the Magpies, entirely due to the club’s salary cap mess at the end of 2020.
“It’s pretty crazy to think that I’ve played for three footy clubs now and I’m extremely proud of my journey so far. I wouldn’t change it for anything,” Treloar said.
“One of the small achievements that I’ve wanted to achieve is play 100 games for a footy club.
“I think I’m at about 76 for the Bulldogs, so hopefully there’s a few more years there and I can play 100 games and get my name on the locker, which would be pretty cool.”
The Bulldogs will revert to their original name, Footscray, this week to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the club’s first premiership.
They will host Melbourne, whom they defeated in the 1954 decider, at Marvel Stadium on Friday night, wearing retro jumpers in Treloar’s milestone match.
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