AFL players, coaches and legends enter 'red card' debate after Gaff suspension

Mick Stirling

•
AFL players, coaches and legends enter 'red card' debate after Gaff suspension image

After two days of headlines dominated by Andrew Gaff’s hit on Andrew Brayshaw the case has fronted the tribunal and the West Coast midfielder’s season, and possibly his time in an Eagles jumper, is over, but debate rising from the incident is far from done.

Talk of the introduction of a send-off rule has hovered around the periphery of the AFL for years, but the Western Derby whack will see it as a major talking point in the off season, possibly overshadowing other previously big-news rule changes that seem inevitable come 2019.

There’s an obvious downside of a send-off rule in that players may be forced to sit out a game for an incident that is later proved to be minor, but on the flip side, an example such as the Gaff/Brayshaw one saw Fremantle one player down for the rest of the match.

MORE: Good and bad news on Collingwood injuries | Will Suns swoop on Swans veterans?

It’s hard to argue that West Coast didn’t deserve at least the same penalty.

The AFL is essentially against a ‘red card’ system and CEO Gillon McLachlan said in 2016 it wouldn’t be introduced.

“I think that the send-off rule in the end creates a huge issue because of the significance about where it starts and stops,” McLachlan said.

“It raises a whole series of potential impacts and challenges for one or two, or very few incidents on a yearly basis.”



But since McLachlan said those words there have been a few high-profile incidents that have shocked the football world and seen a lot of support swing towards a send-off rule: the one from the weekend and last year’s Tomas Bugg hit on Sydney youngster Callum Mills being the two most prominent.

Swans coach John Longmire tried to avoid offering any definitive opinion when asked what should happen going forwards.

" It's not for me to say what I think should or shouldn't happen. It's happened to us last year, it happened again this week.

“I don't have a strong opinion one way or the other, other than the fact it should be discussed.

"Not everything in this game is black or white.”



Melbourne co-captain Nathan Jones was more supportive of the idea, while still being careful not to step over boundaries set on what current players can say.

“I’m not against it,” Jones told SEN Breakfast on Monday.

“They don’t happen too often, it’s not like you see that every day like in the 1980’s, but in particular for an incident like (Gaff and Brayshaw) I think it’s warranted.

“You just see the ramifications post that, and obviously Ross Lyon sort of mentioned it, it got his senior players fired up and I think it can just boil over into something bigger than what the game wants, particularly in this day and age.

“You don’t want all-in brawls and fights off the back of an issue like that, so I’m for it.”

The potential for retaliation within a game was also highlighted by Brownlow medallist Gerard Healy on Fox Footy’s Sportsday show.

“The AFL’s absolute refusal to entertain the introduction of a long-overdue red card – which has evidently already been knocked on the head – is beyond belief,” Healy said.

“The (Gaff) incident could have been much, much worse, far, far uglier, an uncontrolled melee. It’s why David King, who sensed the impending potential disaster, encouraged the Eagles on a number of occasions to get him (Gaff) off the ground.

“It’s a decision that should not have been necessary, but the AFL’s irresponsible head-in-the-sand approach continues to make it so.

“For that, Gill, it’s you who deserves a red card.”

The League’s ‘Player of the 20th century’ Leigh Matthews had police charges laid against him for an off-the-ball strike that broke Geelong midfielder Neville Bruns’ jaw, and while Matthews has often said the reaction to his hit on Bruns baffles him, he is of the opinion the game has changed to a point where he believes red cards should be introduced.

"(In) footy back then (in the 1980s) you're almost putting yourself into a war without weapons," Matthews told Macquarie Sports Radio on Monday.

"But 30 years later I think to myself ... the option should be available because you're not outside the law of the land."

But how can the AFL introduce a method to determine whether a player deserves being ruled out for the rest of a game?

"We need to upgrade the video-reviewing official," Matthews said.

"The field umpire wouldn't have even seen this incident, so they don't even know about it."



Another legend of the 1970s and ‘80s, Malcolm Blight, took the suggestion of how to implement an acceptable system further, saying the AFL should utilise the game’s former greats.

“I’ve come up with something that I reckon we should start to consider,” the former Kangaroo told Adelaide radio station FIVEaa this week.

“There are 258 living life members -- players, coaches, umpires, admin and media. They’ve all been in the footy game for a long, long time and I would suggest most of them have a fair go at what footy’s all about.

“I think we should appoint a panel -- 9, 18, or 27 in a roster system -- to sit alongside the score review person and adjudicate on red cards so we don’t have to see that idiocy again.”

Blight’s idea might make sense, a rare thing for the 1978 Brownlow medallist, but it could also add further confusion to the game.

After all, the score review system seemed a guaranteed good idea when it was introduced, but there’s barely a week goes by without some controversy or another.

In fact, if it wasn’t for Andrew Gaff’s left hand, Josh Jenkins would have been the name on everyone’s lips this week.

Mick Stirling