Richmond's Ty Vickery apologises for hit on Dean CoxDate July 27, 2014 - 6:00PM
Roy Ward
Richmond big man Ty Vickery has publicly apologised to West Coast ruckman Dean Cox for knocking the Eagles star out on Friday night.
Vickery was reported for striking Cox on the jaw during a ruck contest in the Tigers' win over the Eagles in Perth on Friday night, with the blow forcing Cox to be substituted due to concussion.
Vickery will find out on Monday whether he will receive a suspension from the match review panel or be sent straight to the tribunal.
Speaking on Fox Sports News on Sunday afternoon, Vickery publicly apologised to Cox and his family and said he had attempted to contact Cox to offer a direct apology for his actions.
"In the heat of the game I overstepped the mark with my physicality and aggression," Vickery said.
"I'm very remorseful for that and I unreservedly apologise to Dean and his family.
"I've attempted to make contact but haven't got through to him yet but I will to offer him an apology personally."
Vickery stopped short of saying he would accept whatever penalty was given to him with commentators suggesting he could receive a month or more out of the game.
"The MRP will do its job on Monday and hand down what they consider to be fair, we will look at it then," Vickery said.
"But I just want to unreservedly apologise to Dean and his family - it would have been hard to see him go through what he had to."
Vickery also said he didn't remember much about the West Coast spectators yelling at him from close to the Tigers bench but he did say he thought the incident with Cox "rattled him" and hurt his form for the rest of the match.
"This is something I will rectify - I will look to push the boundaries [with physical play] but never overstep the mark," Vickery said.
Richmond veteran Chris Newman has called on Vickery to find the right balance of on-field aggression as the forward stares down a long suspension.
Vickery is facing his second suspension within two months after he missed two matches for striking North Melbourne’s Michael Firrito in round 12.
Vickery also has 43.75 carry-over points from his earlier suspension, which will be added to whatever points he is gets for the Cox incident.
Even with an early plea, Vickery may have to accept a four-game suspension due to his carry-over points, while he could face a longer suspension if the matter is sent directly to the tribunal.
While appearing on Channel Seven’s AFL Game Day, Newman said the Tigers couldn't afford to be without Vickery.
“He needs to find that line,” the former Tigers captain said.
“He might be looking at some time on the sidelines and we would much prefer Ty was in the side.
“It’s something he has to juggle and get right.”
Tigers coach Damien Hardwick said he couldn’t comment on the incident but Vickery was “remorseful and would cop his whack”.
Tigers star Brett Deledio echoed Newman's call on Channel Nine's Sunday Footy Show.
"We encourage Ty to play aggressive; obviously we don't like to king-hit blokes or swing free arms like that," Deledio said.
Leigh Matthews, also speaking on AFL Game Day, said he believed Vickery would get a three or four-week suspension.
“I think it was reckless, high contact and obviously high impact. So, with an early plea he might get three weeks – most of us look at that and say it's a 'four-weekish one,” Matthews said.
“It was a rush of blood to the head, which happens to the best of us; but if you do the crime, you do the time.”
Matthews also suggested the AFL should employee a single tribunal “commissioner” to rule on tribunal matters on the day after a match, thus ending the speculation on rulings before they are issued on Mondays.
Hardwick said football clubs moved on quickly so would be well served if match review rulings could be sped up.
“They [the current match review panel] are not full-time employees, but it would stop some of the conversations,” Hardwick said.
“It would make it easier. As you know, football clubs move on quickly; it would be great for us to know this outcome so we could change our side accordingly.”
AFL operations manager Mark Evans told Triple M on Sunday it was "near impossible" to speed up the match review system because of the information needed before decisions could be made.
"There are a lot of processes that have to take place [for the match review panel] and even then you would still need to give the player 24 hours to contest or accept the ruling," Evans said.
Hardwick refused to rule out signing retiring St Kilda star Lenny Hayes as an assistant coach in 2015 but admitted there was no open roles on his staff at present
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