AFL Tribunal overhaul erases carry-over points, Richmond, Fremantle big winnersJon Ralph
Herald-Sun
March 03, 2015 8:00PMRICHMOND and Fremantle have emerged as the big winners in the AFL’s tribunal overhaul which has abandoned all suspension carry-over points.
Under the old system a player’s carry-over points remained on his record for 12 months.
Often it meant a reprimand was elevated to a one-match ban.
The new system scraps those points, but players who have served two or more matches of suspension in the past two years now have an officially-termed “bad record”.
There are 32 players who have bad records, which adds an additional match to the base sanction.
Richmond had seven players taking carry-over points into the 2015 system including stars Jack Riewoldt and Brett Deledio but now only Ty Vickery, Steve Morris and Reece Conca have applicable bad records.
Riewoldt (60 points) and Deledio (93.75 points) would have had to tread a fine line early in the year but now have no bad record.Fremantle had eight players with carry-over points but now only Nat Fyfe, Matthew Pavlich, Hayden Ballantyne Colin Sylvia have bad records.
Zac Dawson, David Mundy, Zac Clark and Michael Johnson lose carry-over points.
Hawthorn’s Josh Gibson (70 points), Carlton’s Dale Thomas (60 points), North Melbourne’s Daniel Wells (96.87 points) can all breathe easier after losing those points.
The new system does not allow for good records but has a one-game discount for a guilty plea, meaning a bad record neutralises that admission of guilt.
It hands players fines for low-level incidents, has more discretion if a punishment does not fit the crime, and has a new-look match-review panel consisting of Nathan Burke, Michael Christian, Luke Ball and Brad Sewell.
Already the system has shown its more lenient side, with North Melbourne’s Lindsay Thomas yesterday accepting a $1000 rough conduct fine for a bump on Adelaide’s Matthew Jaensch.
Under last year’s more rigid system he would likely have been hit with a two-week ban and accepted one week with a guilty plea.
Essendon’s Brendon Goddard was furious when suspended for a similar incident last year, repeatedly voicing his displeasure.
Essendon and Fremantle have the most players on the edge given four Bombers have bad records after at least two matches of suspension in the last two years.
The league believes too many players were forced to accept carry-over points in recent years for minor incidents.
Now only after three lower-level incidents in one season will a player be suspended.
Tribunal statistics detailed in the AFL’s MRP booklet show last year there were 183 charges, of which only 15 went to the tribunal.
Five players got off at the tribunal, but mostly they accepted their penalty (92 per cent).
The league’s new system sees all serious incidents sent straight to the tribunal without grading by the match review panel.
http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/afl-tribunal-overhaul-erases-carry-over-points-richmond-fremantle-big-winners/story-fnelctok-1227246832582
