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Gary Ablett has kept his Brownlow Medal chances intact after avoiding report for elbowing Liam Picken during Gold Coast’s win over the Western Bulldogs on Sunday.
Football fans everywhere will be thrilled that Ablett avoided suspension and remains in contention for a third Brownlow. However, in media’s delight at his escape, we have forgotten to question the double standards from the Match Review Panel.
Ablett’s elbow was deemed to not be forceful to warrant a suspension, which is debatable in itself in the modern game, but probably the right decision. However, just one week ago we lost another genuine superstar from Brownlow contention – Steve Johnson.
Johnson was suspended for a week following a head-butt on Ryan Crowley, which would probably not have been even looked at had it not been for Crowley’s overacting.
The question must be asked, how was Ablett’s elbow deemed to be less forceful than Johnson’s head-butt?
Ablett’s elbow was thrown back in frustration at Picken, and why it may not have meant to hit him in the head, it still appeared to make contact and had genuine force behind it.
Johnson’s head was tilted at Crowley with minimal force, this also hit Crowley in the head, who then collapsed to the ground in an effort to receive a free kick.
In an ideal world, both would have been penalised with nothing more than a free kick. Unfortunately, with so much going on during the game, the AFL can’t expect umpires to catch 100 per cent of these minor, off-the-ball issues.
While I’m not going to make the jump that the AFL is trying to take care of the Gold Coast or Gary Ablett, the clearing of Ablett goes against much of what we’ve seen this year at the tribunal.
Even though many think Ablett has his third Brownlow sewn up, Johnson polled 25 votes (just three behind Ablett) from just 16 games in last year’s Brownlow count. He has been even better this year.
While Ablett getting off is good for football, Steve Johnson should feel very harshly done by. And we could have missed an epic Brownlow contest as a result.
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