AFL Tribunal Looking At Zero-Tolerance Rule For Punches During Games

After the number of big hits resulting in various concussions and injuries during the 2018 AFL season, the league’s tribunal is currently looking to bring in a complete no-tolerance towards any kind of striking, to be implemented from the 2019 season.

We have seen a lot of striking and punches thrown from key players like Sydney Swans‘ Dan HanneberyHawthorn‘s Daniel HoweWest Coast Eagles‘ Andrew Gaff and Adelaide Crows skipper, Tex Walker, proving that despite the heightened  threat of suspensions and fines, fists continued to get thrown and players continue to get knocked out.

It’s looking like the new ruling will mean that players will cop a suspension for ANY kind of striking/punching, including stomach hits and guernsey punches – where players grab each other’s collar and get short uppercuts by pulling on their opponent’s guernsey.

As reported by AFL.com.au, the current crackdown on striking has allowed the Match Review team to hand out fines for more incidents, and has resulted in 61 players over the 2018 forking out over $91.5k in fines. If the zero-tolerance rule is brought in, Match Review Officer Michael Christian is worried that it’ll result in a huge amount of players suspended across all teams.

To suspend every player that strikes or punches with negligible impact… I think we’ve got to be a little careful what we wish for because there will be carnage in terms of the number of suspensions.

The tribunal and match review teams will enter into a review of the game’s rulings at the end of the 2018 season.

PEDESTRIAN.TV‘s AFL tragics Courtney Fry and Josie Rozenberg-Clarke discuss the potential rule change at about the xxx mark. Have a listen to their thoughts on it and the rest of Round 21 below, and don’t forget to subscribe on iTunes over HERE.

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