Dan Butler’s suspension has been overturned. He is free to play against Richmond on Saturday.
Tribunal's reasons for decision:
We find that given the speed at which Butler was traveling and the angle from which he approached the tackle, it was inevitable that he would tackle Blakey to the ground.
The question is how did he execute the tackle? Was the method reasonable in all the circumstances? We’re not persuaded that this was a two-action tackle.
We consider that Butler did not drive Blakey into the ground with his legs. We note he had dropped to the side and had no real power from the commencement of the tackle.
We also find that he did not drive Blakey to the ground with his arms. Butler fell to the ground with Blakey as a result of the momentum of the tackle.
Butler released Blakey’s defensive arm towards the end of the tackling motion.
Butler made a conscious decision to release Blakey’s arm so that he might brace for impact.
The question is not whether he released it in time for it to be effective - thought we find that it did slightly help Blakey to brace for contact - the question is whether he did so as early as he reasonably could.
We find that he did.
Releasing an arm or not pinning an arm will not always be enough to avoid breaching the duty of care.
Here, the fact that the tackled player will be brought to ground was inevitable and unavoidable was an important consideration. We find that this was not a careless act and the charge is dismissed.
https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-tribunal-news-2023-live-updates-hearings-blog-results-james-sicily-tackle-dan-butler-tackle-rhyan-mansell-bump-suspensions-video/news-story/c133cd1a4f1e299dad13b5a6469283d2
