‘Wasting everybody's time': AFL Tribunal ‘farce' laid bare
Criticism towards the AFL for their decision to send Carlton's Adam Cerra's charge for umpire contact to the tribunal amid their mid-season rule change has come thick and fast.
The Blues star walked away from Tuesday night's hearing with a $5,500 fine, a mere $125 closer to the Blues' hoped figure of a five grand figure than the AFL's $6,125. The end sanction was $750 less than he could have received had the league got its way.
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Speaking on Fox Footy's AFL 360, host and veteran broadcaster Gerard Whateley was pointed in his assessment of the league's handling of a process that required plenty of resources for so such a minuscule outcome.
'I've covered the Tribunal since I was a cub reporter. I've seen high farce, when cases were cooked up in the lifts and the chairman present!' Gerard Whateley began.
'I've seen players blatantly lie and pure themselves. I've heard bio-mechanists invent the most fanciful stories. I have seen character witness, submissions from Prime Ministers to lower penalties...
'Tonight, the AFL has reached new levels of high farce, as they quibbled over $1,250 with a panel of lawyers who will shortly bill for about $30,000.'
Adam Cerra will front the tribunal.
The AFL's introduction of a Tribunal hearing for any player who is sanctioned for umpire contact four times in 12 months allows the league leeway to argue for a player's suspension.
UMPIRE CONTACT SANCTION (last two years)
ADAM CERRA — 4
MATT ROWELL — 4
GEORGE HEWETT — 4
JACK MACRAE — 4
ZAK BUTTERS — 3
JORDAN DAWSON — 3
HARLEY REID — 3
WILLEM DREW — 3
HUNTER CLARK — 3
Four umpires have been concussed as a result of umpire contact in the last 12 months, which was undoubtedly a big part of the AFL's reason to crack down on the contact as Whateley explained.
Suns superstar Matt Rowell is on the brink of a suspension. (Photo by Russell Freeman/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
'I don't dismiss the broader principal, which is important... (but) it has gone too far. The AFL is duty-bound to its umpires to address it — the only way to do that is to confront players,' continued Whateley.
'But to go into a Tribunal hearing with two lawyers, Jeff Gleeson — who's one of the country's most esteemed — the two members of the jury and the admin staff ... to quibble over $1,250 to set this principal, I don't think they have quite achieved what they wanted to achieve.
'If you wanted to make a stand, and a stand worth making, you had to leave the spectre of suspension on the table — at least for a while, but that was withdrawn immediately.
'This is just wasting everybody's time. If you want to ramp the fines up, just write it into the guidelines and ramp the fines up.'
Cerra will line up for Carlton this Saturday night when the Blues go up against Melbourne.
Originally published as 'Wasting everybody's time': AFL Tribunal 'farce' laid bare
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