On Thursday night, Adelaide and Shane McAdam's appeal for his bump on GWS' Jacob Wehr failed, with the three-match suspension standing.
McAdam's hit on Wehr was graded as: "Careless conduct, severe impact, high contact," resulting in the tribunal stepping in to determine the penalty.
Despite it being eerily similar to that of Melbourne's Kysaiah Pickett - who received a two-match suspension - the Crows appealed the call, claiming there's been an error in law.
Shane McAdam has been sent straight to the tribunal for his bump on Jacob Wehr.
— AFL (@AFL) March 20, 2023
Full details on the Match Review Officer's findings: https://t.co/lV0jIIYbDg pic.twitter.com/UALj94aGB7
McAdam will miss rounds two to four and clashes against Richmond, Port Adelaide and Fremantle.
Adelaide's KC Tom Duggan is arguing the "impact" category of the suspension, according to journalist David Zita.
The Crows' argument tonight is centering on impact.
— David Zita (@DavidZita1) March 23, 2023
Crows believe only matter taken into account by Tribunal was the potential to cause injury.
Nick Pane from the AFL has identified that Duggan and the Crows have focused on the impact, while missing the potential of the bump to cause injury.
"The Crows have in effect focused solely on the impact to the head and ignored the impact to the body. In doing so, they've ignored the potential of the bump to cause injury," Pane said.
"Just because the Crows disagree with the Tribunal's conclusions doesn't mean the Tribunal has been haphazard. This appeal dresses up as 'errors of law' matters that go to the heart of the expertise of the Tribunal."
Former Adelaide captain Mark Bickley admits there is some confusion surrounding how the penalties were dealt with, including Pickett's.
“The glitch in the system, well not the glitch, but the thing that confused many people is the wording which says, ‘The potential to cause severe impact’," Bickley said on SEN.
“You can upgrade the severity from low to medium to high to severe. It can go up two spots with the potential to cause injury."
Pickett's bump on Bailey Smith began at low impact but was upgraded two spots to high, resulting in two weeks.
Whereas McAdam's began at medium impact and was lifted to severe, meaning it goes straight to the tribunal.
“I wouldn’t be unhappy if Pickett and McAdam got three,” Bickley said.
“It’s really about consistency and that’s where people (find frustration). Sometimes we get upset with the Tribunal because we’re comparing it to what happened six months ago, so you can imagine how upset people are when you compare it to something that happened one day ago.
“That is the thing that makes everyone put their hands in the air. How can we have inconsistency between things that happened so close together?
“It’s mind boggling.”
