OnSong wrote:Problem: It was right in front of the umpire, who immediately reported him and sent him off.
Yes, two weeks is harsh for what it was, but surely you can't claim Aaron was trying to protect himself?
Here's my take: He was frustrated with putting in the chase but Cmrlec's block meant he was never going to get to the Balak player with the ball. So, in a small brainfade, he gave Cmrlec a cheap, glancing blow to the head with his elbow/forearm.
I agree, FGH, that the incident itself probably would have been ignored by umpires 100 times before and maybe a downfield free awarded and that's it.
He's a good bloke and it was out of character but perhaps Aaron is unfortunately the victim of the events from a few weeks back.
Blatant and reckless, yes. Reportable, probably not. Two weeks is definitely harsh.
So in summary the match review panel gave the incident 225 points, which with an early guilty plea would have reduced to the points to 168.75 and only 1 match. But the club decided to challenge and lost so the original 2 matches stood.
