suggesting the punishment didn\u2019t fit Neale\u2019s action<\/a>.<\/p>\nThe AFL Match Review Officer graded Neale\u2019s strike as intentional conduct, medium impact and body contact, equating to a one-match suspension. That consequently ruled Neale out of Saturday\u2019s Grand Final against Fremantle.<\/p>\n
Neale became the latest player to fall foul of the AFL\u2019s gut-punch crackdown this year, with nine players now suspended for the act.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s not one ounce of sympathy for Lachie Neale whatsoever if he\u2019s sitting in a grandstand on Saturday afternoon,\u201d Lyon declared on Fox Footy\u2019s AFL 360 on Monday night.<\/p>\n
The MRO handed Lachie Neale a one-match ban.Source: FOX SPORTS<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no sympathy to be handed out to a man who decides off the ball: \u2018I\u2019m going to punch someone in the gut.\u2019 It is ridiculous. We called this out, Greg Swann came in and mandated it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only thing I\u2019ll say is that occasionally they\u2019ve been a bit inconsistent to say whether it\u2019s a week or not.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo sympathy in the wide world from me for that. There is no excuse.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Whateley declared it a \u201cweak case\u201d, considering the only vision of the incident is from a grainy behind-the-goals camera.<\/p>\n
\u201cShow me where he punches Ginnivan? Show me the closed fist and show me where it lands?\u201d Whateley asked of Lyon on AFL 360.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe legal minds should just punch holes straight through this tomorrow \u2013 because this is the only evidence there is, this vision (from behind the goals).<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then Lachie runs on and he makes the universal \u2018oh get up, you flopped\u2019 \u2013 and Ginnivan gets straight up once he realises he hasn\u2019t milked a free kick.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Lyon said Neale had to be punished by the MRO.<\/p>\n
\u201c(The hit) is off the ball?! You\u2019re excusing that behaviour to run from behind and swing your arm into the guts? You do that, you throw yourself at the mercy (of the MRO and tribunal),\u201d Lyon said.<\/p>\n
Neale may miss final after strike | 00:08<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re sitting in the grandstand, no one to blame but yourself.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe deserves a week for stupidity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whateley replied: \u201cThat is nowhere near definitive vision. That does not support a suspension. The best you could get from that would be a fine.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe evidence still has to be there to support the charge \u2013 and it\u2019s not there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lyon, however, said a potential Ginnivan testimony could be key.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Jack Ginnivan gets up and says \u2018that got me right in the guts and knocked the wind out of me and I was struggling for three minutes\u2019, he (Neale) is in trouble,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Lions, however, are widely expected to refer to \u2018compelling and exceptional circumstances\u2019 in the AFL\u2019s laws, which may arise where a player has an exemplary record \u2013 and it could help Neale escape the one-week ban after never copping a previous suspension.<\/p>\n
Collingwood used the clause in March to help club champion Scott Pendlebury get off his one-week ban for rough conduct against Adelaide\u2019s Josh Worrell downgraded to a $3000 fine. Pendlebury had never previously been suspended in his 21-year AFL career.<\/p>\n
Whateley said it was not simply a \u2018good bloke rule\u2019.<\/p>\n
Bottles thrown at umpires post match | 01:21<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been a fundamental misunderstanding around what is \u2018exceptional and compelling circumstances\u2019,\u201d Whateley said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen this talked about as a \u2018loophole\u2019, as a \u2018good guy discount\u2019 \u2013 it\u2019s no such thing. This is a clause within the game that is both necessary and prudent.\u201d <\/p>\n
Whateley also pointed to the case of Geelong legend and dual Brownlow Medallist Gary Ablett, who was handed a one-game ban for striking Essendon\u2019s Dylan Shiel in his then-328th game. The Cats went to the tribunal and pointed to the compelling and exceptional circumstances clause, with Ablett\u2019s sanction downgraded to a fine after a brief deliberation from tribunal members.<\/p>\n
Neale, also a dual Brownlow Medallist, played his 320th AFL game on Saturday. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a provision for decorated champions of the game and it is absolutely to be availed to Lachie Neale (on Tuesday night),\u201d Whateley said.<\/p>\n
Lyon replied: \u201cI\u2019ve got no sympathy for Lachie Neale and I\u2019ve got no problem if he gets off on that basis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking on Fox Footy\u2019s On The Couch on Monday night, Brown said Neale\u2019s ban doesn\u2019t pass the pub test.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe shouldn\u2019t get suspended for that, certainly (not for) a Grand Final,\u201d Brown told On the Couch.<\/p>\n
Lions survive thriller to stay alive | 04:43<\/p>\n
\u201cThese things that are inconsequential in terms of impact to your opponent and the physical harm \u2013 the head rubs, what Ginnivan does here (a jumper punch) to Hipwood \u2026 suspend them all, mate. This is ridiculous.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not promoting provocation, but if you\u2019re going to try and get rid of all these things, put the head rub there and put the Ginnivan one all in the same (basket) and suspend them all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown lamented why the AFL industry was \u201cin a rush to suspend our players \u2013 our greatest commodity\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy can\u2019t you just lift the fines? The fines are ridiculous in our game \u2013 $1500 fines and how many blokes have we got on over $1 million a year? Put a huge fine in place,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is always the problem. When you think of these incidents, you\u2019ve got to look ahead and go: \u2018if a player got suspended for a Grand Final, do we really want this in our game?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously people are going to say \u2018you\u2019re a Brisbane supporter\u2019, but I spoke about this two years ago with Isaac Heeney, it is absolutely ridiculous in our game that it\u2019s become a sport to want to suspend our players.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese things happen in the heat of the game, there\u2019s tension. Yes Lachie would\u2019ve seen what happened only a couple of seconds earlier \u2013 and obviously Ginnivan folded like a cheap suit, he\u2019s fine, he gets up and runs away. So how is Lachie Neale going to miss the biggest game of his life at this stage?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Melbourne legend Garry Lyon says he has \u201cno sympathy\u201d for Lachie Neale, declaring the decorated Lions star \u201cdeserves…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":900036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-900035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900035","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=900035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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