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The tackles by Jack Clisby and Brendon Santalab over the weekend were nothing short of shocking – and retrospective action must be taken.
Both Clisby and Santalab were booked by referee Shaun Evans, which technically means he has dealt with the situation and the players cannot be further punished.
This is wrong.
Adelaide’s Sergio Cirio is facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines after he was “shockingly fouled” (Adelaide’s words, not mine) by Clisby early in the game.
Later, James Holland was lucky not to have his leg broken by an even more reckless challenge by the notoriously hot-headed Santalab.
And to rub salt into Adelaide wounds, Santalab – who had already scored the leveller – scored a late winner.
The Reds can’t be given their point back, and I’m certainly not suggesting they should be.
But Santalab and Clisby should be retrospectively punished for their wrongdoings.
Referee Evans clearly erred in not sending off Santalab, and if Clisby’s foul was borderline, the degree of injury suffered by Cirio pushed it over the line.
To say that the referee has dealt with the situation is to hide from the fact that he made a mistake. Evans misjudged the severity of the offences.
It happens.
But because of Evans’ first mistake, Adelaide lost the opportunity to play 85-odd minutes against ten men. And because of his second, they lost the opportunity to play the final part of the game against ten men (or even nine if he actually did send off Clisby), and the player who should have been removed from the game scored the winner.
Adelaide wrote to the FFA asking that Evans not referee their future games, a request that was correctly denied by the governing body – the clubs cannot be allowed to dictate who referees their games.
The Reds are aggrieved though and while retrospective action won’t give them their point back, or bring Cirio back to full fitness any faster, it will at least bring a modicum of justice to those whose fault their predicament is.
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