AFL 2023: Essendons Zach Merrett suspension is disgrace, Anthony Caminiti downgraded

The football world has been left dumbfounded by a wild night at the AFL judiciary.

Footy legend Gerard Healy on Tuesday said it would be a “disgrace” if Bombers captain Zach Merrett potentially loses a Brownlow medal because of a one-match ban that was upheld by a judiciary tribunal.

It was just one of several perplexing decision by the panel with Collingwood’s Taylor Adams also hit with a one-match ban while St Kilda’s Anthony Caminiti escaped with a three-match ban for a behind-play strike that left Collingwood’s Nathan Murphy concussed.

Merrett and Adams both failed to have their dangerous tackle charges downgraded, continuing the AFL Tribunal’s refusal to budge on the issue this season.

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No player has successfully escaped a suspension for a dangerous tackle at the Tribunal this season.

Merrett fronted the judiciary looking to argue down his tackle on Melbourne’s Tom Sparrow, arguing firstly the charge of rough conduct, and secondly, the impact of the tackle should have been low rather than medium.

Merrett explained he was trying to make a normal tackle but Sparrow’s “sidestep” threw the Bombers skipper from his feet.

AFL Tribunal chairman Jeff Gleeson found Merrett had not acted in a “reasonable” way by not having the foresight to assess that Sparrow was in a dangerous position.

Healy was scathing of the suggestion Merrett had not acted appropriately in the heat of the moment.

While Merrett was previously assessed to be among the players considered to be an outside chance of winning the Brownlow medal, Essendon’s surprisingly hot start to the season means his ineligibility could be one of the biggest scandals to hit the league’s best and fairest award in some years.

Healy said the landscape of football in 2023 of players being suspended for minor tackles gone wrong means players should now be considered eligible if only suspended for two or less matches during the season.

“It’s not a dirty game any more,” Healy said on Sportsday.

“There’s very few punches thrown. What you can get for two weeks now, the threshold should be, if it’s two weeks or under, you can still win the Brownlow medal.

“I think it would be a disgrace if Merrett lost a Brownlow medal for a tackle gone wrong. That would be crazy.”

Kane Cornes responded on the radio show by saying it was “ridiculous” to believe Merrett should have been able to assess all the criteria the AFL used to decide his tackle was dangerous.

“If he loses a Brownlow medal for that, there will be an uproar,” he said.

“Do we need to start looking at the Brownlow because even five years ago a player wouldn’t have been suspended for that.”

Healy also said dangerous tackles and the need to take action to further protect players from head injuries is the game’s “biggest problem”.

The league has very few options to combat the problem and Healy said all none of the paths offer a real solution.

Whether the game introduces even harsher penalties for sling tackles or forces coaches to discover a safer tackling technique or change the very fabric of the sport by ruling tackles are complete before players like Patrick Dangerfield and Christian Petracca have an opportunity to break the tackle — the league is facing major disruptive surgery.

Calling tackles earlier would also result in more ball-ups and stoppages — the very thing the league has spent the last 20 years trying to limit.

Healy said more stoppages is “the last thing the game needs”.

Merrett’s punishment was just as perplexing as the tribunal’s decision to downgrade Caminiti’s suspension to a three-match ban.

Caminiti’s striking charge on Collingwood’s Nathan Murphy was downgraded from the five-week ban the AFL was seeking to a three-week suspension.

AFL 360 hosts Gerard Whateley and Hawthorn great Jordan Lewis backed the Tribunal’s decision to reduce the suspension.

Caminiti’s strike on Collingwood’s Nathan Murphy was given the highest gradings possible by the Match Review - severe impact, high contact and intentional - with a suggested ban of four-plus weeks.

While Whateley and Lewis understood the decision, some on social media were confused, pointing to Nathan Broad’s four-match ban for a dangerous tackle earlier in the season and asking why a football act was worth a longer penalty.

Adams was the final case of the night for his tackle on Seb Ross, to which the Magpie was seeking a downgrade from medium to low impact.

It was a three-man tackle as Tom Mitchell and Beau McCreery were also involved.

Adams argued he was trying to “minimise impact” but his teammates falling off balance contributed to the force in the tackle.

“Tom’s got half a foot on the ground, he’s got his whole weight falling onto us,” he said. “Beau, he likes tackling that much that he’s tackling Tom to try and tackle Ross. There’s almost 180 kilos of weight going through them.

“I tried to protect both Seb and myself. It’s lucky I did, otherwise he would’ve hit the ground harder.

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“Seb actually mentioned to me after this that he was able to get a handball away.”

The AFL’s case argued Adams’ actions made it a dangerous tackle and that the other two players “might magnify” the impact of the tackle.

However, the Tribunal upheld the charge.

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