Gold Coast coach Rodney Eade says he is flummoxed by the “mind-blowing” three-week AFL suspension handed to key defender Steven May.
May copped the ban for his hip-and-shoulder on Brisbane’s Tom Rockliff early in Saturday night’s QClash, which left the Lions skipper with a concussion and a sore jaw after the Suns player’s accidental head-high contact.
The tribunal rejected May’s appeal, leaving him with a suspension of the same length as Hawthorn’s Luke Hodge, who elbowed North Melbourne’s Andrew Swallow in the face.
“I’m totally bemused to be honest, totally flummoxed by it,” Eade said on Thursday.
“All the respected experts you listen to, who have a good idea on football, are totally stunned by it.
“For him to get the same as Luke Hodge? Steven we thought was a solid bump, but he didn’t go off his line much.
“We coach about protecting the ball, protecting the space where the ball is, to use your body.
“It’s one of the arts of playing AFL footy.
“He only had one alternative option, that was a viable option as far as winning the ball, and that’s what our game’s about.
“I thought the system was really improved this year, but that decision leaves you flat.”
May will miss Gold Coast’s home clash against Adelaide on Saturday, as well as next week’s trip to face West Coast and their meeting with Collingwood at Metricon Stadium the following round.
Rockliff has recovered from the incident and should be fit to line up for Brisbane against Carlton on Sunday.
Eade said he accepted that the head was now sacrosanct”in the eyes of the AFL’s match review panel and tribunal but said the severity of May’s sanction was over the top.
“I was really surprised the tribunal in the end, the fact we challenged, couldn’t say ‘we find him guilty, but it’s worth one or two weeks’. I mean, three weeks? It’s mind-blowing,” he said.
“People are saying we’re sanitising the game too much and I tended to side with the law makers that we have to protect the head, but there’s also an element of the game where things are going to happen.”
David
Guest
He would have only got 2 weeks if he wasn't so stupid as to contest the suspension. So he actually got 1 week less than Hodge. Having said that, Hodge deserved a lot more.
GT
Guest
I'm fully aware that May didn't go straight for the ball, as a defender he had to weigh up the option of trying to compete with Rockliff for the ball on the ground (and to lose that contest likely results in a lions goal), or to use his body to position Rockliff out of the contest. He chose the latter. My main grievance is Rockliff's inability to be as hard at the ball as he normally would be, due to his recovery from rib injury. In my mind, that is why he got hurt. On that note, I can't fathom how a concussed player is free to play the following week. As you say, a lot of concern around now regarding concussions, yet a player KO'd the previous week is ok to play the following week. That doesn't seem right to me. My aggravation also stems from the 3 week penalty to May being the same as Hodge's elbow strike. That makes it hard to swallow (pun intended)
Dalgety Carrington
Roar Guru
If by "Rockliff basically ran into May" you mean "Rockliff ran into May as he was heading to the ball and May was heading towards him" then you're spot on, otherwise maybe your watching is affected by those serious aggravations you're getting about this. Although like you I don't really agree with him being suspended for this sort of incidental type head knock. The AFL are racking up the inconsistencies in trying to maintain this position too. Ballantyne got weeks for Taylor stumbling across his path as he was running to the contest, yet Dunn is free to go after leaping into Walters head as he was picking up the ball. With all the stuff around concussions coming out now it does make it difficult.
GT
Guest
The fact that May received any suspension at all is the mind blowing part. Rockliff basically ran into May, who positioned himself well to defend the position. The fact that Rockliff was playing with healing broken ribs (no way is he fully healed yet) meant that he couldn't go as hard at the contest as he normally would have. That is the reason he got cleaned up. The fact that he will play again this week says it all really. How can he play a week after getting KO'd, what if he cops another knock this week due to his inability to go in hard at 100%. Just seriously aggravated by this shambles.