Patrick Smith has explained where the new system sucks. Lucky I read it because after his recent ignorant article about Richo I'd almost decided not to bother.
From Paddy:
"Burton was charged with rough play after he bumped Chris Hyde in Adelaide's win over Richmond last Saturday. He was initially offered a two-match suspension which could be reduced to one if he pleaded guilty.
His bump was assessed as reckless contact, of low impact, in play and of high contact. He pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of negligent contact and asked that the tribunal downgrade the match review panel's initial assessment.
The tribunal agreed with Adelaide's position and Burton's two-match suspension ended up a reprimand.
He is not the first player to use this rule - plead guilty and fight some other part of the charge - and he will not be the last. It is a rule that circumvents the main plank of the new tribunal system.
Central to this new protocol were mechanisms that discouraged players from fronting the tribunal.
A match review panel would assess an incident and decide on a penalty. The player concerned could take an early plea and have the penalty reduced. Or he could fight the charge and lose any potential for a discount.
Surely a player who pleads guilty must plead guilty to every part of the charge - conduct, impact, location and contact. If he contests any of the four categories as judged by the match panel then surely he is pleading not guilty."
There it is! Thanks Patrick.
Burton should not have still got a reduction if he was pleading guilty to a different charge than what was offered. Even with the tribunal agreeing to the lesser charge it should have been one week.
Here's Fatpr...... I mean Patrick's article:
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,15698587%255E12270,00.html