Geelong Cats star Patrick Dangerfield has been suspended for three weeks by the AFL Tribunal following a bump on Adelaide's Jake Kelly.
Tonight's verdict puts an end to Dangerfield's hopes of claiming a second Brownlow Medal this season after he was punished for a nasty bump, which left Kelly with a broken nose and a concussion from an inadvertent head clash.
The Geelong star pleaded guilty to careless conduct and high contact but attempted to downgrade the classification, which had been graded severe by the Match Review, to high.
The 30-year-old was unsuccessful, with the tribunal ruling the contact as severe, resulting in a three-game suspension. Dangerfield will now miss out on Geelong's upcoming matches against Brisbane, Hawthorn and Melbourne.
The suspension would've likely been reduced to two weeks had Dangerfield's legal team successfully argued the grading as high impact.
Dangerfield's legal team attempted to argue that the AFL's tribunal guidelines had not properly defined the word "severe."
Ben Ihle, who was acting for Dangerfield, cited definitions of the word from the Oxford Dictionary and Macquarie dictionary, before then using Apple's search tool, Siri, to define the real meaning of "severe".
Ihle also pinpointed three previous severe impact cases, which he hoped would distinguish Dangerfield's matter.
They cited two incidents from last season - Alex Neal-Bullen's dangerous tackle on Will Hamill and Ben Long's careless bump on Sean Darcy. Dangerfield's counsel also noted Jeremy Cameron's hit on Harris Andrews in 2018.
from WWOS https://wwos.nine.com.au/afl/geelong-cats-star-patrick-dangerfield-suspended-for-three-games-by-afl-tribunal-for-hit-on-jake-kelly/bc656fea-8b2c-41e8-9a64-ec9f9e11a522
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