Luke Hodge believes the suspensions handed down to both Hawthorn’s James Sicily and Richmond’s Rhyan Mansell are extremely harsh.
Hawks captain Sicily copped a three-match ban for a sling tackle which left Brisbane’s Hugh McCluggage badly concussed after his head whiplashed into the MCG turf.
The Sicily case is not as clear-cut as other sling tackles we’ve seen this year given that his teammate Tyler Brockman was also on the scene, potentially contributing to the pressure applied to McCluggage.
Former Hawk and Lion Hodge finds it hard to reason with a three-week bar for such an action.
Hugh McCluggage has come from the ground after this tackle from James Sicily.
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“Hughie was trying to get away from ‘Sis’, but Sis dived at him, lunged, it was a desperation tackle,” Hodge said on SENQ Breakfast.
“At the same time, Brockman has gone through and Hughie has tried to evade him. So all the strength Hughie had in trying to push away from Sicily has now gone limp because he moved his body back as Sicily was tackling him which helped with the momentum to swing and hit the ground.
“Hughie on the ground was a terrible sight, but as soon as there’s a third person that comes into play in the tackle you can’t throw the book at this.
“You look at (Nathan) Broad from Richmond who did the big dump tackle and knocked a kid (Adelaide’s Patrick Parnell) out on the boundary line, he got four weeks and Sicily got three for this.
“It just doesn’t seem right in my mind.”
Hodge added on SEN’s Whateley: “I feel that the Tribunal got it wrong last night.”
Tigers youngster Mansell was also hit with a suspension of three matches for his head-high bump on Fremantle’s James Aish.
Mansell was attempting to gather the ball at full speed when he and Aish collided which ended in a concussion to the Dockers winger.
Hodge was at a loss to explain what else Mansell could have done to avoid contact.
"That's not a reportable offence for mine...if he goes in head-first, it's a major head clash between both players."
— 7AFL (@7AFL) June 10, 2023
Nathan Jones on the Rhyan Mansell bump. pic.twitter.com/WoR6Iv11j7
“On face value, if you watch that last split-second of the bump, it looks like he’s going to run straight through him,” Hodge added.
“If you look at how the play unfolded, Aish was running with the ball, the ball’s gone over his head, Mansell has run out and that ball bobbled end over end and sat up which meant it went back towards Aish.
“If that had have bobbled one more time, Mansell picks the ball up and he’s charging out. Everyone is going to sit there and go ‘well done, look at the attack on this young fella’.
“That ball bounces up, Aish doesn’t get the ball in his hands so he (Mansell) can’t tackle him, he can’t slow down and he collides. The Tribunal said why didn’t he attempt to pick up the ball? If he had have tried to get the ball, he would have run head-first straight into Aish.
“So then you would have had two blokes knocked out.
“As a (past) player I feel for him because he did the right thing and because of the bounce of an oval ball, it made him hesitate.
“I’m siting here going is three weeks fair for that? That’s probably a bit harsh in my books.”
Additionally, Collingwood great Nathan Buckley took to Twitter to express his dismay with the current environment.
He believes the game is difficult enough for the players without muddying the waters even further when it comes to tackling and bumping.
Jack Ziebell, a tough, at the ball footballer was criticised for not going at the ball or tackling an opposition player in a head on contest at the weekend.
— Nathan Buckley (@ncb_cfc) June 13, 2023
James Sicily wins a HTB free for what the commentator described as a great tackle. 3 weeks
This is the modern game 🤷♂️
As if the game wasn’t hard enough to play already 🤦♂️
— Nathan Buckley (@ncb_cfc) June 13, 2023
The MRO and Tribunal continues to confuse us all.
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