Luke Hodge surprised Crows pair escaped suspension after melee “cheap shot”

Luke Hodge cannot believe that Adelaide’s Max Michalanney and Luke Nankervis escaped suspension after they scuffled with Hawthorn’s Nick Watson.

In the final quarter of the blowout, the melee broke out, with the trio above the key figures.

It sparked a large brawl, with both among five players fined $1,875 for the melee.

Given how low the bar is for tackle and bump suspensions, Hodge wonders why the Crows weren’t suspended while labelling one of the hits as a “cheap shot”.

“If the AFL are serious about head knocks and concussions, if you saw Charlie Cameron’s suspension that got him three weeks, the melee with Luke Nankervis and Max Michalanney on Nick Watson,” Hodge told SEN’s Sportsday.

“There was about four of them on Watson – and I understand he’s probably very lippy, but they threw him on the ground and when he was on the ground both of them pushed his head into the ground and it was a shove.

“(Nankervis') was a bit of a cheap shot with a forceful push and then a forearm to the head (from Michalanney). Both the same action as Charlie Cameron, but in a melee and they get away with a fine.

“I’m sort of sitting there going if you look at it, Watson couldn’t defend himself, so what’s the difference? Because it was in a melee? It looked pretty dangerous given Watson had multiple players on him.”

See the incident below: