Trent Cotchin faces another nervous MRP wait amid AFL's punching furoreAnthony Colangelo
The Age
10 July 2017Richmond's 67-point loss to St Kilda has been compounded by the report of captain Trent Cotchin in an incident that will ensure the debate about punching in the AFL rages on.
Vision showed Cotchin's fist may not have been completely clenched when he struck Lonie, however the force was enough to put the St Kilda player on his knees.
Cotchin was lucky to escape suspension when he struck Fremantle's Lachie Neale in the jaw with a jumper punch in round eight.
If the punch is deemed by the MRP to be intentional and medium impact to the body Cotchin would be able to accept a one-week ban. However if the impact is deemed to be low he will escape with a fine.
Meanwhile, St Kilda's Tim Membrey will almost certainly be suspended. In the second quarter he struck Richmond's Dylan Grimes with an elbow to the face in a marking contest. Grimes took no further part in the game after the ugly incident.
Cotchin's punch comes at a time when the AFL has been besieged by controversial striking incidents.
In round 14 Richmond's Bachar Houli was suspended for four matches after he elbowed Carlton's Jed Lamb in the face. The MRP referred Houli's strike straight to the AFL tribunal which banned him for two matches. But on AFL appeal, Houli was suspended for four matches.
The next week Melbourne's Tomas Bugg received a six-match suspension for a crude punch to the head of Sydney's Callum Mills. Mills, like Lamb the week before, was concussed and missed the rest of the match.
Following the Bugg incident, the AFL's then-diversity manager Ali Fahour was suspended for 14 weeks for a punching an opponent to the head and concussing him in a Northern Football League match.
Fahour subsequently resigned from his role at the AFL amid huge public backlash for his conduct. Police have also charged Fahour with intentionally causing injury, recklessly causing injury and unlawful assault.
On Fahour's punch, AFL boss Gillon McLachlan said: "The events this week have sent a clear message that striking and punching at any level of our game is not acceptable".
Earlier in the season, after a spiteful round nine clash between North Melbourne and Melbourne that featured numerous punches and striking incidents, McLachlan and AFL footy operations boss Simon Lethlean flagged a crackdown on punching.
"I don't like punching in our game," McLachlan said. "I don't feel it's the look we want and you know to the extent that our rules don't provide for it [punishments to players], we'll look to change them.
On the same day Lethlean SEN radio: "It's unusual, but we're going to [change the rules mid-season]. We don't want punching to continue".
To the outrage of many, Geelong's Tom Hawkins was suspended for one match in round 11 for a jumper punch on Adelaide's Matt Crouch. Some deemed Hawkins' punch as similar to the one that Cotchin escaped suspension for in round eight.
Collingwood's Levi Greenwood will also come under MRP scrutiny following Saturday's games. As he bumped Essendon's Zach Merrett at the MCG, Greenwood's elbow slipped off his opponents shoulder and into his head.
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