Brisbane forward Charlie Cameron has been handed a one-match suspension for a dangerous tackle on Jake Lever during the Lions’ Thursday night win over Melbourne.
Cameron tackled Lever to the ground in the first quarter at the MCG, with the Demons defender’s head making contact with the turf to trigger a free kick against the Lions goalsneak.
The incident was graded by Match Review Officer Michael Christian as careless conduct, medium impact and high contact, resulting in the ban.
The suspension is a blow to the Lions after reviving their season with a 22-point win on Thursday night, with Cameron starring with three goals.
He will miss the Lions’ clash with Geelong at the Gabba in Round 6 unless the club successfully challenges the ban at the AFL Tribunal.
Brisbane Lions veteran Dayne Zorko has criticised teammate Noah Answerth’s unsportsmanlike gesture in the club’s stunning 22-point triumph over Melbourne.
Answerth mocked Petty with a “crybaby” gesture during the last quarter after the Demons forward missed a shot at goal at the MCG.
The Lions defender appeared to be referencing an altercation between Petty and Zorko during a game in 2022 that left the Melbourne player in tears, with the then-Lions captain Zorko allegedly sledging Petty over his mother.
Zorko apologised for his actions after the match but stated it ‘wasn’t unprovoked’; after being booed by Demons supporters every time he had the ball on Thursday night, he said after the match he was not aware of the incident, but openly addressed it.
“I’ll probably go have a word to him, that’s obviously not the way we want to win,” the 35-year-old former Lions captain told ABC Radio.
“Heat of the moment, stuff happens. I’m sure he’d have fixed it up after the game.”
Melbourne defender Jake Lever said it shouldn’t be part of the game.
“He had a tough time up there a few years ago and as a player, you don’t know what others are going through,” Lever told the Seven Network.
“I think footy’s cleaned up that sort of act.”
Speaking on SEN on Friday morning, former greats David King and Kane Cornes were both critical of Answerth’s sledge, saying it was unnecessary to ‘bring up the ugly past’ and urging the Lion, who has established himself in the best 22 after an injury-plagued last few years, to focus on his football.
“Just get yourself embedded into that team and play good footy before you start lighting fires like this, because it does bring up the ugly past,” King said.
“I think Dayne Zorko was looking to move past this, to be fair – the Brisbane Lions have been looking to move past it too. It will be interesting to see how that plays out.
“I don’t think everything is fair game when you’re on the footy field these days; we’re learning pretty quickly over the last few weeks that this is unacceptable.
Cornes agreed, saying Answerth ‘has just got to get himself established as a player before he starts carrying on like that’.
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin said he wasn’t aware of the incident and was unwilling to offer his opinion.
“I didn’t see it, what happened? Probably ask Fages [Lions coach Chris Fagan] when he comes in, that’s up to them,” Goodwin said.
Fagan also said he hadn’t seen the incident before he came into his press conference.
“Got to be really careful on that sort of thing so I’ll let that one through to the keeper, if that’s OK,” he said.
(with AAP)
Star Richmond midfielder Tim Taranto will miss ‘an extended period’ after fracturing his wrist at training, adding to the mounting injury list confronting first-year coach Adem Yze.
The reigning Jack Dyer medallist hurt himself on Friday morning, with scans confirming a fractured radius that will rule him out of the Tigers’ clash with West Coast, as well as several other upcoming matches.
“We are incredibly disappointed for Tim that he will miss some football, but we know the professional he is. He will keep himself fit and strong and return as quickly as he can,” Tigers general manager of football Tim Livingstone said in a statement.
“It was an unlucky incident right at the end of today’s session. He will have it operated on immediately, and we will see where everything is at after that.”
The news on Taranto came just hours after Richmond confirmed fellow midfielder Jack Ross would miss about eight weeks with a foot stress fracture.
Ross, 23, has been on the fringes at Richmond and was the substitute in round one, but had played the Tigers’ past four games in the midfield, averaging 23.5 disposals per match.
Tim Taranto. (Photo by Dylan Burns/AFL Photos via Getty Images)
He will be replaced by Liam Baker, who returns from suspension against the Eagles at Optus Stadium.
“Unfortunately for Rossy they’ve found a bit of a stress fracture in his foot or his toe and he’ll go in for surgery,” Yze said.
“He was in really good form, he started to get some continuity as a midfielder for us, and he had an interrupted season last year as well.
“We’ll wrap our arms around him and help him through it.”
Yze has already had to deal with losing Josh Gibcus for the season, Tom Lynch (hamstring) for up to three months, and Noah Balta (knee) for about six weeks.
Dion Prestia and Dylan Grimes have also been sidelined early in the season amid Richmond’s 1-4 start.
“It’s not about me, you just feel for the players that are unavailable,” Yze said.
“Irrelevant of where we sit and how we’re going win-loss, we just want to see the kids play.
“So when you see some of your players walking around injured, frustrated, flat, that’s worse than win-loss.”
Lynch was back at Punt Road on Friday after his successful hamstring tendon surgery, and Yze confirmed he was in good spirits and would soon return to running.
Balta is out of a knee brace and was walking laps at training.
Rumours of a mid-season retirement for Dustin Martin circled over the past two weeks, but have been quashed.
Yze certainly wasn’t buying into them, especially after an impressive showing against St Kilda.
“We don’t deal with rumours and things like that,” he said.
“For us our responsibility is to make sure Dusty’s happy, and I’ve said that from day one.
“We want an environment that can allow him to enjoy his footy, enjoy coming into the club every day and hopefully prolong his career.
“So those sorts of things are external, we don’t really worry about, but he came in and played like Dusty (against St Kilda), and that was the main thing.
“We wanted to give him a week off. He was battling with a little calf injury and trying to get through based on the fact that he’s a terrific leader of our footy club and wanted to help us get back on track.
“But the best thing for him was having a week off, and we saw the results of that on the weekend, which is nice.”
(AAP)
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