Naitanui faces one-game AFL suspension

If he was concussed, why was he allowed back on in the last quarter? Will he play this week? This was a good tackle...just hard. I just wish someone would suspend Dean Margetts for getting in the faces of players. He is more irritating to players than James Sicily.

Weird!

Prefer footy to running man.

IN the words of Luke Darcy (in response to ‘should have rolled him’), “that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard”. Since when has a player been suspended for not ‘rolling’ in the tackle. It’s never happened.

Wow, this is considered a good tackle in rugby league, it’s this pansy sanitising that makes AFL the butt of jokes in league states. #goplaysoccer

No blinkers just don't believe it warranted any more than a free, which was awarded. It didn't result in a fifty or report on the day and is not a suspension now , tomorrow or in the future.

What a bizarre suggestion. What if the next time they meet is in a grand final? Do you direct your players to go soft on any potential finalists? I think the game is compromised enough as it is.

That's not what i said, take the Nic Nat blinkers off

So players who take possession of ball are not expecting to be tackled, we played different games it seems.

I'm reluctantly comfortable with a one match suspension. Is the game becoming soft? Certainly people could argue that it is. Will AFL be a contact sport in the future? Not as we currently understand it no. Tackling will have a place,but you won't be able to physically force a player to ground,you will only be able to hold them up. I think it's a good thing now that I have a better human understanding of the remafactions of concussions,brain injury etc. Barbaric games/sports will find a new platform in which to be popularised,we are currently living in the beginning of a transition period,a period where our sport faces enormous challenges,where we must embrace the new on so many levels,and forfeit the past for the games very survival. Things can change very quickly,especially when we are existing in such a small pond,in such a big world.

Who says a push in the back can't be worth a suspension ? A push in the back when a player is not expecting it but can soften his fall with his arms etc is just a free kick. A push in the back where a player has no real opportunity to protect himself and gets a concussion should be a suspendible option every time. What's hard to understand ?

Push in back is not a suspension, arms were not pinned as stated, player took free kick so if he was severely traumatized the port staff would of not let him. It is not a week and will be overturned.

I'm not sure how its substantially different from the Mumford tackle on Liberatore last year, that he MRP at the time cleared, and I think that was the correct decision. How else was he supposed to complete the tackle his coach, team mates and fans would have expected him to complete? Do the tribunal use precedence? "Small player gets ball and big player immediately tackles them in one motion", IMO, needs to be allowed in the game irrespective of outcome. AFL is a fast paced contact sport where accidental incidents like this are going to occur.

Does not warrant a suspension but he needs to get that out of his game before he breaks someone's neck, Reckless. Clearly intended to drive him into the ground. Free kick in the goal square.

yep the Port player got caned but that's just footy - no case to answer in my book

Which premise for suspension do you have an issue with. The first or the second? As I said firstly, Naitanui should be suspended simply because he applied an illegal tackle (in the back) that resulted in Amon's head being driven into the ground with (extreme) force and a concussion resulted. In general I think if a player does an illegal act to another player and that illegal act was of sufficent force to seriously injure that other player then they deserve to be suspended. Do you have a problem with this?

Its a case of being punished for being bigger than most, footy doesn't have weight divisions, wce lawyer will tear it apart today.

Shall we arm players with a feather duster and replace tackles with tickles, if this is upheld then the precedent it sets is a slippery slope

Cat, You wrote, "Just out of curiosity what is the point, in your opinion, of tackling if a player doesn’t try to prevent the player with the ball from freely hand balling it? May as well outlaw tackling altogether." The point is to protect the player with the ball. When the player has hold of the ball they don't have full capacity to protect themself by virtue that at least one hand or arm is used to hold the ball. So yes, in general outlaw all tackles that don't provide the player with the ball a good chance of protecting themselves from serious (head or neck) injury. If a playing laying the tackle can obey this rule while preventing the disposal of the ball all well and good but in any case the umpire (not necessaryly the match review process) must give the player with the ball the benefit of any doubt. Protect the player with the ball and afford them the benefit of any doubt.

Naitanui clearly pushed Amon in the back and then drove Amon's head into the ground with (extreme) force. I don't think we want this type of action in the game. I think Naitanui should be suspended because it was an illegal tackle (in the back) that resulted in Amon's head being driven into the ground with force and a concussion resulted. Further I also think it should be a suspension for another reason. As I see it, any tackle, even an otherwise legal tackle, that firstly pushes a players head into the ground with force and secondly doesn't give the player being tackled a reasonable opportunity to protect their head from hitting the ground should be dealt with by fine/suspension and particularly so if the player being tackled is concussed or suffers a head/neck injury. Even though Amos had one arm free I don't really think he had any opportunity to protect himself given the position of the free arm and the force and speed with which he was brought to ground by Naitanui.