Since when did kicking an opponent not lead to suspension?Peter Ryan
The Age
April 20, 2022 The wording of the match review panel decision that arrived via email on Sunday needed to be read twice to ensure it had not been misread.
A player had received a fine after the match review officer found he had intentionally kicked an opponent. There was no suspension, no tribunal appearance, merely a fine, reduced with an early plea from $3000 to $2000.
The charge as laid read simply:
Trent Cotchin, Richmond, has been charged with Kicking Taylor Walker, Adelaide Crows, during the third quarter of the Round Five match between the Adelaide Crows and Richmond played at Adelaide Oval on Saturday April 16, 2022.
In summary, he can accept a $2000 sanction with an early plea. Based on the available evidence, the incident was assessed as Intentional Conduct, Low Impact, Body Contact.
Now before you line up Cotchin, the intent of this column is not to put the boots into the Tigers’ veteran.
Since 2017 the triple premiership captain has established himself as a Richmond champion, tough, uncompromising and courageous as he led the Tigers to three flags.
He might be able to argue he was balancing himself rather than kicking if he had the chance to defend his action. He is not a dirty player and the decision has been made.
Nor is it relevant who was on the receiving end of his kick although Adelaide’s Taylor Walker was quite justified in making this statement, as he did on Triple M in Adelaide, on Tuesday: “I tell you what, if the shoe was on the other foot, I would have been missing the next month.”
Even allowing for the fact that if the shoe was on the other foot, he would have kicked his opponent with a sock, Walker (and perhaps Toby Greene, Brayden Maynard and Mitch Robinson to name the most obvious candidates) would, if not penalised more harshly than Cotchin, have been under more scrutiny in the court of public opinion if they had lashed out.
The point of this column is simply to ask: since when did kicking become a charge that only receives a fine rather than a suspension?
Since round five, 2022?
At no point has it been acceptable to kick in AFL/VFL history or any other competition throughout the country, and it should remain that way.
In fairness, Cotchin’s kick was not the sort of act that saw Collingwood’s Tony Francis suspended for six weeks in round one, 1990 when he stood over an opponent and kicked them as they lay on the ground.
But it was an act that could incite fury if it occurred in local football, with officials likely to send off the offending player.
I tell you what, if the shoe was on the other foot, I would have been missing the next month.
And it’s not worth even debating the severity of the kick given Cotchin was charged, as described, with intentionally kicking an opponent.
It did not look good. It was not good. And Walker’s reaction showed what he thought of what had happened.
Intentionally kicking a player needs to be a charge, once established, that commands a suspension from hereon. No ifs, buts, or maybes. The length of the suspension is the only variable.
Change the guidelines and kick kicking out of the game.
https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/sport/afl/since-when-did-kicking-an-opponent-not-lead-to-suspension-20220419-p5aejh.html
