{"id":608333,"date":"2026-04-15T11:16:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T11:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/608333\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T11:16:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T11:16:16","slug":"jason-johnson-in-car-during-zak-butters-tribunal-hearing-technical-issues-video-afl-360","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/608333\/","title":{"rendered":"Jason Johnson in car during Zak Butters Tribunal hearing, technical issues, video, AFL 360"},"content":{"rendered":"

AFL 360 hosts Gerard Whateley and Garry Lyon have strongly questioned the \u201ccompromised\u201d nature of Zak Butters\u2019 Tribunal hearing<\/a>. <\/p>\n

It came as a juror in the hearing was called into question for being in transit for a portion of Tuesday\u2019s events. <\/p>\n

Watch every match of every round of the AFL Premiership Season LIVE and ad-break free during play on FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Tribunal found Butters asked field umpire Nick Foot \u201chow much are they paying you?\u201d after a contentious free kick was awarded to St Kilda on Sunday night. <\/p>\n

Port Adelaide confirmed on Wednesday<\/a> night that it would appeal the $1,500 fine handed to Butters. <\/p>\n

But on Wednesday night, Whateley raised two major flaws with Tuesday\u2019s proceedings \u2014 the first of which was juror Jason Johnson, a former Essendon 184-gamer, tuning in from his car during a crucial time in the hearing. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are greater concerns, I think, with the way that this case has been staged and heard, which, fundamentally, undermine where we come to as a conclusive piece,\u201d Whateley said on Fox Footy\u2019s AFL 360. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe first of those \u2026 one of the jurors, Jason Johnson, was in transit during the climax of the case. He dropped out at one stage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lyon chimed in, remarking it was \u201cembarrassing at worst\u201d that a juror would be in transit instead of intently listening to the contents of the hearing. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf your reputation is on the line, and it\u2019s a hotly-disputed argument, and there\u2019s a level of detail that needs to be absorbed, I don\u2019t want the bloke who\u2019s sitting in judgement of me \u2026 in his car, in transit,\u201d Lyon said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI want them sitting down, taking copious amounts of notes, cross-referencing, listening intently, and not being distracted by what may or may not be going on in the outside world because you\u2019re in a car, and the fact you may go past the local McDonald\u2019s and the service drops out. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s embarrassing at worst, and how would that wash on the world stage? This is a multi-billionaire-dollar business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lyon added the whole situation makes the AFL \u201clook like a circus\u201d on the world stage, given the seriousness of the incidents that the Tribunal decides on. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are demanding the absolute best in every aspect of what we do in the football community, and the world stage comes in and watches this \u2026 and where are the people who are going to pass judgement on this? Oh, one of them\u2019s in the car. What\u2019s that look like?\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not having a crack at Jason Johnson, apparently it got changed around and all that sort of stuff, but we\u2019ve got to be better than, Gerard. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t be having a juror who\u2019s about to pass judgement on the hottest case going around \u2026 and where\u2019s the bloke? He had to go, he\u2019s in the car. Come on. That just makes us look like a circus.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whateley said that the AFL spoke to Johnson on Wednesday, with the two-time Bombers club champion conceding the optics weren\u2019t good. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe acknowledged that he was in transit and it isn\u2019t optimal,\u201d Whateley said. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe maintains that he didn\u2019t miss any of the evidence, but the AFL concedes that the optics aren\u2019t great there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whateley also delved into the technical shortcomings of the hearing, where the audio of the two whistles from umpire Foot last Sunday couldn\u2019t be played. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe second aspect was during the hearing, the key elements were two whistles \u2014 one, which was to give Owens the hurry-up, and the second, which was the 50-metre penalty \u2014 but when the vision was played to each witness, the audio (of the whistles) wasn\u2019t there,\u201d he continued. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt led to apologies, as \u2018you won\u2019t be able to hear the whistles, but these are the two markers\u2019. And it led to confusion. <\/p>\n

\u201cOllie Wines got completely confused at one stage as to which whistle he was supposed to be referring to, and the case stopped and everyone acknowledged that. <\/p>\n

\u201cI actually did think it played a role in Butters\u2019 (submissions) \u2026 he lost his way during the cross-examination, and I think not being able to listen to the two whistles, which were the absolute key markers of the AFL\u2019s case, played a role. Just not good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whateley also lamented the \u201cunprecedented\u201d fact that Butters\u2019 case was occurring at the same time as Lance Collard\u2019s disciplinary hearing, which resulted in a 21-hour waiting game. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere were two (hearings) clashing at the same time, which meant that a hearing that would typically be at 5.00pm had to be shuffled forward,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat meant there was a closing time of 5.45, which allowed for a 30-minute deliberation only \u2026 and meant that the findings couldn\u2019t be released simultaneously last night, and that opened up a 21-hour void \u2026 and by then, the conversation had spiralled too far out of control. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf Port Adelaide go ahead with its appeal \u2014 this is a $1,500 fine, I would expect the legal bills to land between $25,000-35,000 that have been spent on a case that has so many flaws in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked by Lyon what his verdict would be, Whateley declared that the entire case should be \u201cannulled\u201d with no finding. <\/p>\n

\u201cI would start with emotion, if I was Port Adelaide\u2019s advocate, just to have the whole case annulled,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too compromised to give you any capacity to reach a just and fair outcome. Too many flaws. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis should just be dismissed and annulled with no finding, either way. There are too many flaws in this process to be able to come to an outcome that reputations hang on, and the football world is entranced by.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not yet known when Butters\u2019 appeal will be heard. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AFL 360 hosts Gerard Whateley and Garry Lyon have strongly questioned the \u201ccompromised\u201d nature of Zak Butters\u2019 Tribunal…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608334,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[295838,638,64,63,689,55,639,295840,241386,295845,53996,295842,6178,42903,10145,61,3231,295844,12415,295841,294635,677,6082,295839,1124,85,1122,143552,295843,660,775],"class_list":{"0":"post-608333","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-absolute-key-markers","9":"tag-afl","10":"tag-au","11":"tag-australia","12":"tag-australia-and-new-zealand","13":"tag-australian-football-league","14":"tag-australianfootballleague","15":"tag-closing-time","16":"tag-club-champion","17":"tag-crucial-time","18":"tag-disciplinary-hearing","19":"tag-field-umpire","20":"tag-football-community","21":"tag-football-world","22":"tag-garry-lyon","23":"tag-gerard-whateley","24":"tag-jack-jovanovski","25":"tag-jason-johnson","26":"tag-lance-collard","27":"tag-multi-billionaire-dollar-business","28":"tag-nick-foot","29":"tag-oceania","30":"tag-port-adelaide","31":"tag-service-drops","32":"tag-south-australia","33":"tag-sports","34":"tag-st-kilda","35":"tag-technical-issues","36":"tag-technical-shortcomings","37":"tag-victoria","38":"tag-world-stage"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}