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Richmond’s Nathan Broad has been slapped with a four-game AFL ban for his tackle that left Adelaide’s Patrick Parnell concussed.
Broad, who described his tackle as “sh–house”, fronted the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday evening and pleaded guilty to his rough conduct charge.
Richmond sought a three-game ban, but the tribunal rejected their argument that Broad’s clean record – he’s never been suspended in the AFL – was a compelling reason to go down from four.
AFL lawyer Nick Pane said a four-game ban was appropriate, given the tackle had potential to cause even more serious injury than it did.
Parnell was concussed but the tribunal heard he isn’t likely to miss more than one game.
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“There was injury … but there was still a potential for further injury such as a neck injury by the action of a slinging tackle,” he said.
Broad’s lawyer Michael Tovey said Broad had immediately taken responsibility for the injury, and reached out to Parnell via former Tiger Shane Edwards, who’s now in Adelaide’s football department.
Broad’s text to Parnell included: “I don’t want you to accept my apology, but I shouldn’t have done it. Sorry mate. It was sh–house.”
Richmond argued for a three-game ban given the Tiger’s “exemplary playing history”, having never been suspended in his 109-game AFL career or in state-league football.
Tovey said he should be able to “cash in” that good record, adding Broad was trying to spin Parnell and take him over the boundary line.
Tribunal chair Jeff Gleeson accepted Broad was genuinely remorseful, but said his actions were “unquestionably dangerous”.
“Players must do all they reasonably can not to cause avoidable head injuries … every player is on notice,” he said.
Patrick Parnell is tackled by Nathan Broad. (Photo by Sarah Reed/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
Former North Melbourne champion David King might not be happy with the outcome, having described Broad’s tackle as a “horrific incident” and a “car crash” and called for at least a five-game ban.
“We’ve got one chance to stamp this out, and unfortunately, Nathan Broad and the Richmond footy club have to pay a price,” King had told Fox Footy.
“If you give that six weeks, it will not happen again for the year … don’t tiptoe through this one.”
Later on Tuesday, Gold Coast defender Charlie Ballard was to contest his one-match ban for striking in an attempt to face Geelong on Sunday.
He got the ban for a stray elbow that connected with Essendon’s Matt Guelfi in Sunday’s loss to Essendon.
The third-quarter incident was assessed as striking and graded as intentional conduct, low impact and high contact.
“He’s a really valuable player for us in our backline, really strengthens us back there and we’d love to see him get off,” Suns co-captain Touk Miller said.
The AFL is facing renewed pressure to get rid of the traditional centre bounce, with rival coaches Chris Scott and Ross Lyon declaring it an unnecessary burden for umpires.
Whistleblowers have been vocal in recent seasons about wanting the bounce to be scrapped, warning it has caused them anxiety and increased their risk of injuries.
Scott and Lyon told Fox Footy they would be in favour of umpires throwing the ball up all the time.
“My issue is it costs you some good umpires,” St Kilda coach Lyon said. “When you talk to the umpires, (they say) there’s good umpires that don’t get in because they can’t bounce. It’s hard enough to get umpires as it is.”
Geelong premiership coach Scott backed Lyon’s stance, saying the aim should be to make umpires’ jobs easier.
“I can’t come up with a sport where it’s harder to umpire or referee than our game,” Scott said. “A pretty good guiding principle is, ‘let’s make it as easy for them as possible’.”
The discussion around the bounce stemmed from Scott’s reaction to a ruck contest between the Cats’ Rhys Stanley and Carlton opponent Tom De Koning.
De Koning raised his knee into Stanley’s ribs at a centre bounce but was not penalised with a free kick against him.
He was later fined $2000 for ‘kneeing’ in an act that was considered careless conduct, medium impact and body contact. Stanley, who was substituted out of last Thursday night’s match after the incident, is in doubt for Geelong’s clash with Gold Coast on Sunday.
Scott said the Cats have since received clarification from the AFL around kneeing rules and had no issue with De Koning’s penalty. “I don’t want to see De Koning get suspended or even fined. All you want to see is behaviour change,” Scott said. “The AFL saying you cannot do that is much better than suspending players, in my opinion.”
Richmond remain hopeful Dustin Martin will overcome his latest hamstring setback in time to play in the AFL clash with Collingwood, but have ruled out Jayden Short.
Dashing defender Short has been sidelined by a calf injury, while gun midfield recruit Jacob Hopper (knee) is also “doubtful” for Friday night’s MCG blockbuster.
Martin was substituted out of the Tigers’ away win over Adelaide on Saturday and had scans on return to Melbourne the following day.
On Monday, Richmond confirmed the 31-year-old had “hamstring awareness” and will have to prove his fitness at this week’s main training session.
Martin has a history of hamstring injuries, which played a significant role in limiting the three-time premiership hero to just nine games last season.
“We made the decision during the game to take Dustin off the ground, given his injury history and the six-day break,” Richmond physical performance manager Luke Meehan said.
“We’re just going to monitor how he recovers off the game and make a decision on Wednesday and see if he gets through training with regards to playing this week.”
(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Meehan revealed Short played the opening two rounds of the season under duress.
“We’re going to make a decision now to not play him this week and get him to do some strong rehab training on (the calf), and get himself right for the rest of the season,” Meehan said.
Hopper, recruited from GWS in the off-season, injured his knee in an “ugly” incident and is “pretty lucky”, according to Meehan, to still be in contention for the Collingwood clash.
Like Martin, he faces a fitness test on Wednesday.
Tom Lynch (corked leg) is clear to play but the Tigers’ injury-hit defence – already missing Robbie Tarrant (hip) and Josh Gibcus (hamstring) – will suffer another blow when Nathan Broad is suspended for his sling tackle on Adelaide’s Patrick Parnell.
Broad will front the AFL tribunal on Tuesday night and is facing a ban of at least three matches.
Meanwhile, Fremantle are hopeful Nat Fyfe could return in Sunday’s derby against West Coast.
Fyfe was a late withdrawal from the Dockers’ round-two loss to North Melbourne with a foot injury, after which coach Justin Longmuir said the superstar could miss a further two matches.
But the midfielder turned forward could return in a timely boost for winless Fremantle against their arch-rival.
“Nat’s dealing with some plantar fascia issues in his foot and has been on and off for a while now,” Dockers football boss Peter Bell said on Monday.
“We’ve treated that in the latter stages of last week and we’ll see how he progresses through training this week as to his availability to play in the derby.”
Veteran Fremantle goal-sneak Michael Walters is a chance to play increased minutes in the derby after kicking two majors as a substitute against North Melbourne.
Melbourne are confident All-Australian defender Steven May will return from a minor calf injury against Sydney on Sunday.
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