Former great Jimmy Bartel is ‘incredibly uncomfortable’ at the prospect of Tarryn Thomas being given a second chance at an AFL career, as the league prepares to hold pre-match tributes in Round 8 for women who have lost their lives to gendered violence.

Players, coaches and umpires will link arms around the centre circle before all matches this weekend and pay silent tribute to the lives lost, as part of the league’s push to reduce Australia’s shocking domestic violence numbers, with 29 women killed already in 2024.

However, just hours after the AFL and CEO Andrew Dillon announced the tribute, the gesture began to ring hollow when Essendon coach Brad Scott threw his support behind disgraced ex-North Melbourne player Thomas being allowed to resume an AFL career in 2025.

“As an industry, do we just wash our hands and say we’re done with him, or do we help him? I’d prefer to sit in the help camp,” Scott said.

“I’ve known Tarryn since he was 14 and my view is he’s a good person. Has he made some terrible mistakes? Yes, he has, and he’s the first to admit that.”

Speaking on Nine’s Footy Classified, Geelong great Jimmy Bartel, who was a victim of domestic violence as a child and famously grew a beard during his last AFL season in 2016 to raise awareness for the cause, said the ‘forgiveness angle hasn’t worked’.

“I feel very uncomfortable with it [a second chance for Thomas],” Bartel said.

“I get the whole premise of forgiveness and chances, [but] he’s had a number of chances with his alleged behaviour.

“At some stage, there’s got to be a fork in the road, because the forgiveness angle hasn’t worked. Because the numbers are actually getting worse.

“I was part of a campaign that was seven years ago, trying to very visually put the AFL as a leader in saying ‘no’ to domestic violence, starting conversations, parents with children – and we’re getting worse.

"At some stage there's got to be a fork in the road."

Jimmy Bartel says he is 'incredibly uncomfortable' with the prospect of Tarryn Thomas re-entering the comp next year, as clubs plan to take a stand against domestic violence this weekend.#9FootyClassified | Live on 9Now ????️ pic.twitter.com/ctVi6MVT2k

— Footy on Nine (@FootyonNine) May 1, 2024

“The AFL can lead the charge, we can rehabilitate, we can be a leader in this space, but that whole forgiveness, try again, try again, is not working.

“I lean towards a bit more zero tolerance than others, because that’s personal to me… I feel incredibly uncomfortable that we’re going to have players arm in arm, another woman dies… I just find it very hard.

“At some stage, the privilege has got to run out. It’s a privilege to play AFL, it was a privilege to get multiple opportunities, and now you’re getting the privilege of being spoken about and getting another lifeline.

“Yeah, throw your arms around him, support him, educate him – but you don’t have to do that at AFL level.”

Bartel’s comments were echoed by Herald Sun chief football writer Mark Robinson on Fox Footy’s AFL 360, who said the league has to ‘walk the walk’ if they commit to taking a stand against gendered violence.

“Terrific gesture, the AFL, whether you like it or not they’ve taken some significant positions on the big issues,” he said.

“But I fear, though, this is going to present the AFL with a very confronting and difficult decision to make in about 14 weeks’ time – and that is whether to allow Tarryn Thomas, formerly of North Melbourne, back into the AFL system, when he’s been suspended for 18 weeks for inappropriate behaviour towards women.

“I think it was his third set of allegations against him – now we do note that there’s been no criminal charges. But the AFL and the players, congratulations, standing up… it’ll be a very powerful photo, it’ll be a national photo.

“Then you’ve got to walk the walk, and you’ve got to act.”

‘You’re a joke’: Brayshaw brother slams AFL over Tribunal inconsistencies

Former West Coast player Hamish Brayshaw has penned a heated open letter slamming the AFL’s Tribunal and match review systems, describing them as a ‘joke’ that are ‘single-handedly destroying the game’.

Brayshaw is the brother of former Melbourne premiership player Angus, who was forced into retirement earlier this year after being infamously concussed in a collision with Collingwood’s Brayden Maynard in the 2023 qualifying final.

In the letter, which he also read on the Back Chat Studios podcast, Brayshaw accused the AFL on ‘backflipping’ between its desire to protect the head and keeping the ‘sanctity of the game’ sacrosanct.

“My brother is never going to play football again in his whole life because of a jumping smother that turned into a bump that collided with his head,” Brayshaw wrote.

“As much as it killed me to watch that, I can put my feelings for Angus aside and say that down to the nuts and bolts of it, Maynard was trying to smother the ball in a qualifying final so technically it was a football act. 

“You certainly didn’t care all for the outcome there and Brayden went on to win a premiership. That is precedence. That was as big a defining moment for the tribunal as I can remember, and you went with protecting the sanctity of the game over the protection of the player. I’m not agreeing or disagreeing with that, but it is breaking me that you are constantly backflipping on that stance.

“Peter Wright and Toby Green[e], 4 weeks and 1 week respectively for football acts with not a whole lot of difference. Jeremy Finlayson got less than Peter Wright for a homophobic slur which once again highlights that nobody at the AFL really knows what’s happening at the tribunal, you just make it up as you see fit. 

“AFL you are the greatest game in the world, but right now you’re a joke. Your systems for protecting the player and maintaining the integrity of the game are broken and desperately need to be fixed.

“Before they can be fixed you need to actually understand the criteria you want to govern the game by. It needs to be understandable for the public and it needs to be followed. You can’t pick and choose when to dismiss certain things and when to change your views on others.

“It has to change otherwise this game is going to turn into something unrecognisable and it’s going to happen very quickly.”

Brayshaw also slammed the recent decision by the Tribunal to overturn GWS forward Jesse Hogan’s one-match suspension for striking Carlton’s Lewis Young, saying former teammate Andrew Gaff’s king hit on Brayshaw’s brother Andrew in a 2018 match between West Coast and Fremantle proves such incidents clearly have potential to do serious damage

“There is goal square footage of Jesse Hogan punching his defender in the face, and he has admitted to swinging with force to try and push his opponent,” Brayshaw wrote.

“The AFL’s response “We are not clearly satisfied that was anything more than negligible.” He was swung a fist at a bloke’s face and because it didn’t hurt you haven’t given him a week. Punish the action, not the outcome unless the outcome is they’re okay.

“Ask my little brother Andrew if an intentional swing to the face has the potential to cause harm. Incredible.”

Roos young gun hits back at ‘unfair’ captaincy call

North Melbourne young gun Harry Sheezel has described calls for him to be named North Melbourne captain as ‘really unfair’.

Former St Kilda great Nick Riewoldt caused a stir earlier in the week by suggesting the 20-year old, who already is among the Kangaroos’ premier players and won the Rising Star award in 2023, shouldn’t have his age or inexperience counted against him.

“There’s a lot more to it than just making your best player captain – they’ve got to be a leader in the way they command the group, they’ve got to be a leader in the way they prepare Monday to Friday,” Riewoldt said on LiSTNR’s Footy Talk podcast.

“Assuming he ticks those boxes, then I don’t have a problem with making a 20-year-old captain.”

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However, speaking on SEN, Sheezel dismissed Riewoldt’s suggestion as being disrespectful to current Kangaroos co-captains Jy Simpkin and Luke McDonald, despite the pair’s place in the team coming under intense scrutiny following both the club’s 0-7 start to the season and their own form struggles.

“I don’t think that’s really fair on Luke and Jy,” Sheezel said.

“I think they’re the first to admit their on-field performance at the moment isn’t up to the standard of a captain… but behind the scenes, they are unbelievable leaders and they have done an incredible job for our group as leaders, inspiring us and working so hard to find ways to keep that belief in us to turn this around.

“They challenge standards, and they are, I think, unbelievable leaders and they’re still growing as well.

“I think that’s very unfair on them [Simpkin and McDonald] to suggest that I should be the captain of the club at 19 years old when I’m just learning from them – they’re mentors for me.

“I don’t really buy into that at all, and I fully support Luke and Jy. I think they’re definitely the right people for the job.”

Sheezel is averaging over 32 disposals a game in an outstanding start to the season despite the Roos’ woes, but the club and coach Alastair Clarkson have been urged to consider moving the young gun further afield in an attempt to make his disposals more impactful.

Power skipper named for Showdown as Crows unveil new-look backline

Port Adelaide captain Connor Rozee has overcome a hamstring scare and is a confirmed starter for Thursday night’s AFL Showdown against Adelaide.

Rozee didn’t finish last Friday night’s win against St Kilda, but has cleared all medical tests ahead of the South Australian grudge game at Adelaide Oval.

“There’s always a risk with any injury to a hamstring of any type,” Power coach Ken Hinkley told reporters on Wednesday.

“So you know the challenge with that is whenever they play, there’s always going to be a little bit of a risk.

“So for those people who are sitting there with the doomsday saying ‘you’re taking a big risk’ – we’re taking a normal risk with an injury like this.”

Hinkley replaced Aliir Aliir (concussion) and Sam Powell-Pepper (knee reconstruction) with Ryan Burton and Jed McEntee.

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Utility Jeremy Finlayon has served his three-game ban for making a homophobic slur against an opponent but was overlooked for selection.

“Jeremy has had to do a lot of work over the last month and he’s done as much as he can possibly do,” Hinkley said.

“He’s ready emotionally to take on the next part of that challenge and that’s something he’s just going to have to work through and we’ll support him all the way through that.

“He is a resilient fella, he has been through a fair bit.

“And this is his own doing, but we expect that he’ll be able to handle most of the stuff that comes his way.”

Adelaide will debut prized No.8 draft pick Dan Curtin at AFL level, with the 19-year-old West Australian impressing his coach Matthew Nicks.

“He’s going to bring some real weapons to this game that we know are going to be important to this footy club going forward,” Nicks told reporters on Wednesday.

“We don’t expect him to come out and dominate a Showdown in his first game.

“But we feel that he’s ready, mentally and physically, to play in a game at this level.”

Curtin joins Jordon Butts and veteran Brodie Smith in returning to the Crows side at the expense of axed duo Will Hamill and James Borlase, while Luke Pedlar is sidelined by a shoulder injury.

“We want to give him every possible chance to try and get himself back this year but he will miss a few weeks,” Nicks said of Pedlar.

“We won’t put him at any risk with that decision. But by no means is he done (for the season).”

(AAP)