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Dustin Martin will miss just a single game after the AFL Tribunal decided on Tuesday night to downgrade his penalty for elbowing GWS’ Adam Kennedy to a one-match suspension.
The 2017 Brownlow Medallist will miss this week’s match against Port Adelaide at Adelaide Oval, but will be eligible to play again in Round 5 against the Sydney Swans.
Martin, represented by father-son legal team Michael Tovey QC and Sam Tovey, successfully argued that the impact of his strike should be downgraded from ‘medium’ to ‘low’, reducing the length of the suspension.
The verdict came despite the reporting umpire Nathan Williamson saying when he gave evidence that he believed the level of force to be medium.
Kennedy said when called to give evidence that the initial contact came to the middle of his shoulder and that he didn’t feel any pain as a result of the strike or believe it was malicious.
He said that he hadn’t expected contact to the head and was in “a bit of shock”, describing the strike as a “good knock.”
GWS’ medical report provided to the tribunal stated that Kennedy did not require any initial treatment during the game, nor any ongoing treatment.
Jeff Gleeson, counsel for the AFL, made the point that as per the AFL’s guidelines, strikes making high contact should “not usually” be graded as low impact due to their potential to cause serious injury.
However it would appear Gleeson’s point, apt as it may have been, fell on deaf ears, and the tribunal voted – as they so very often have of late – against the Match Review Officer’s initial penalty.
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