The AFL's Match Review Panel (MRP) has been slammed for its double-standards after Hawthorn veteran Shaun Burgoyne avoided suspension for a dangerous tackle.
Burgoyne dumped Geelong star Patrick Dangerfield in a typical 'sling tackle' that has become frowned upon in the AFL in recent years and has seen players cop suspensions, but escaped with just a $1000 fine as opposed to a ban.
The 37-year-old's case was no doubt helped by the fact that Dangerfield emerged from the incident unscathed, playing the remainder of the game unencumbered.
However, according to leading AFL reporter Damian Barrett, the Burgoyne ruling highlighted one of the player flaws in the way the Match Review Panel adjudicates on sling tackles.
"The Match Review Panel, in my reckoning, on the back of giving him a fine and not a suspension, has rescinded the right to be able to say that they actually do care for the players' head," Barrett told the AFL Sunday Footy Show.
"I don't want to get too dramatic, but that is a pinned arm, a sling motion, it is what the players are now told is illegal.
"Too much weight, in my eyes, is given to how the player who's tackled is injured. That was just a miracle that he wasn't hurt more than he was."
Former Richmond and Bulldogs star Nathan Brown went a step further, suggesting that certain players are looked after as opposed to others, such as GWS star Toby Greene.
"If Toby Greene had've done the same thing the other night, it would have been one or two weeks because it's Toby Greene," he said.
"I think Shaun Burgoyne, he's such a great bloke, everyone loves him, maybe there was a bit of a 'good bloke factor' about it.
"I think all we're asking for is consistency. If Burgoyne's isn't a week, these aren't a week either."
Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes backed Brown, saying that players of the ilk of Burgoyne and Geelong star Gary Ablett are looked after at the AFL Tribunal.
"Some people get looked after at the tribunal. I think they did the same with Gary Ablett last year with his two incidents," he said.
With Burgoyne having escaped a ban and the blow-back on the MRP for its call, Essendon great Matthew Lloyd held grave concerns for the next player to perform a 'sling' tackle.
"You know what's going to happen," he said.
"This week or next week there's going to be (a similar incident) and there will be a crackdown."
from WWOS https://wwos.nine.com.au/afl/match-review-panel-slammed-after-shaun-burgoyne-decision-for-sling-tackle/9f2a6003-4d67-4fea-99e1-c52a1b486612
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