AFL concedes to Ross Lyon as Alix Tauru ban changed under ‘exceptional circumstances'

7NEWS

01-05-2025

The AFL has conceded to Ross Lyon after the St Kilda coach branded the VFL tribunal a 'broken system' following a lengthy suspension handed to draftee Alix Tauru.
Tauru was given a four-week ban at the VFL tribunal for rough conduct and it was upheld after the Saints appealed.
But with byes at the start and end of Tauru's four-week sanction, the 18-year-old was set to be ineligible to play football for six weeks.
Lyon compared the penalty for St Kilda's first round draft pick to that of Richmond's Noah Balta, who was suspended for four matches as a result of the off-field incident that led to him being charged with assault.
'We're incredibly disappointed, I am really frustrated, it's a broken system,' Lyon said on Wednesday.
'If you think the penalty is four weeks, that's OK, but they know we've got a bye and then at the end of that there's another bye.
'How the tribunal doesn't take into consideration that it's six weeks; Noah Balta got four weeks' stand-down for an assault off the field, with respect.
'We've got a kid that concussed a player, it's a six-week penalty, there's just no consideration — as Paul Roos would say: 'common sense is commonly uncommon'.'
In a win for St Kilda, common sense has eventually prevailed and Tauru will be available to return sooner.
AFL football boss Laura Kane approved a change to Tauru's ban under exceptional circumstances, 7NEWS Melbourne's Mitch Cleary revealed on Thursday night.
The suspension can now start this weekend with Sandringham's practice match against a Tasmanian representative team.
Tauru will now be available in Round 12 of the AFL season and Round 10 of the VFL campaign.
St Kilda are in the midst of a debate about their VFL future with an increasingly likelihood of a split from Sandringham.
In the same press conference where he teed off about Taura's ban, Lyon said AFL clubs would be better off running their own breakaway competition than fielding teams in the VFL.
'No wonder AFL clubs talk about, 'Let's have a breakaway group from a 22-team competition and just have four or five clubs that play each other',' he said.
'It's not worth the risk and there's no recompense or consideration or adjustment for the reality of a misaligned fixture of a feeder competition to the AFL, so I am absolutely filthy.
'What I would like is for common sense to prevail here for a young player.
'We talk about mental health ... the kid has been suspended for four and he'll miss six, how do you reckon his mental health is going at the minute? And mine.'
Mixed-team practice matches were commonplace during COVID when teams were based in hubs.