North Melbourne will challenge forward Paul Curtis’ three-game suspension for a tackle that left West Coast’s Hamish Davis concussed on Saturday afternoon.
The tackle dispossessed the Eagles youngster, who then landed awkwardly, knocking him out of the match.
Paul Curtis’ tackle concusses Hamish Davis. Fox Footy
Match Review Officer Michael Christian graded the incident as severe impact and careless conduct, leading to the three-game ban.
The MRO’s decision, however, has been slammed by former Hawthorn star Daniel Harford.
The former Carlton AFLW coach believes this suspension is an example of “looking for blood”, saying every injury in a tackle doesn’t have to result in a suspension.
“I think North has to challenge it,” Harford told Zero Hanger’s Six Points podcast.
“As the system is graded, it’s three weeks, and that’s OK. Now we get the chance to take it the tribunal like Billy Frampton did with the Brody Mihocek tackle last week.
“Paul Curtis has done nothing wrong in this tackle. He’s locked him up, the ball spills out, and then they fall to the ground. There was no drive, there was no secondary motion, there was no force executed. I reckon he almost protected him on the way down.
“Unfortunately, he fell awkwardly and landed on his head and got concussed.
“We don’t always have to have a villain in these scenarios. We don’t have to be looking for blood because someone got hurt.
“Someone is going to get hurt. It’s the inherent nature of footy at times. It’s an unfortunate accident, like last week’s as well. There’s no way Curtis should be serving a suspension.”
Curtis has been here before. In 2025, he was also controversially hit with a three-game suspension for a rough conduct tackle.
That ban was ultimately upheld, and former North Melbourne great David King doesn’t have much confidence things will be different this time around.
“I didn’t think he deserved three weeks last time and he still got whacked, so what does that say for his chances this time?” King told SEN on Monday.
The Roos said in a statement on Monday morning that they will contest the charge on Tuesday night.