A mate's deal between the clubs if I ever saw one. Cotchin's was iffy but Maxwell's was a week or 2 guaranteed. But "........ after receiving a medical report from xxxxxxx club, it was the view of the panel that the force used by xxxxxxxx was below that required ..........". Got no problem with it because I reckon we have gone too soft on some of the physicality in the game but the standards of previous seasons were not applied in both these cases.
The problem with the rules currently is they look too much at outcome rather than intent.
Poor Fyfe executed a perfect bump but because the head was accidentally hit he received two weeks.
Maxwell goes for the head and because he doesn't hit it "hard enough" doesn't get weeks.
Analogy. Police see someone accidentally swing their arm back and collect a little old lady who they didn't realise was there and so arrest the person for an assault charge.
Police see gunman shoot at someone but miss him so they don't arrest him because they didn't manage to hit the target.
This is similar to what happens at the tribunal. Fyfe never had the intent to injure the player - it was an accident, yet he got weeks. Maxwell went for the head and because he just didn't land the blow hard enough got away with it.
RIDICULOUS!