Adelaide Crows captain Taylor Walker offered two-match ban for Josh Kelly tackle

Tom Naghten

Adelaide Crows captain Taylor Walker offered two-match ban for Josh Kelly tackle image

Adelaide skipper Taylor Walker can accept a two-match suspension for his tackle that left Josk Kelly unconscious at UNSW Canberra Oval on Saturday night.

Walker pulled off a big tackle on the GWS midfielder in the third quarter of his side's loss.

Kelly's head hit the turf, with the umpire originally calling 'holding the ball' before changing his decision to dangerous tackle.

Check out the video below.


AFL match review officer Michael Christian handed down his round 21 findings on Monday, hitting Walker with the two-match ban for rough conduct.

"In this particular case, I believe there were elements of a rotation, elements of a sling, and certainly there was a lifting motion as well," Christian told reporters on Monday.

"With all those factors put in together concluded it was a dangerous tackle, then it came down to a question of impact and clearly Josh Kelly was in a bad way."

Should Walker and the Crows accept the penalty, or challenge it and fail, his season will be over as Adelaide won't feature in the finals.

'Tex' was the only player offered a suspension on Monday, though St Kilda's Nathan Brown will front the tribunal on Tuesday night following his big bump on Essendon's Adam Saad.

Other findings from the round 21 review saw North Melbourne's Jarrad Waite fined $3,000 for his high bump on Bulldog Jackson Trengove.

Full match review report here.

Tom Naghten

Tom Naghten Photo

Tom Naghten is a senior editor at The Sporting News Australia where he's been part of the team since 2017. He predominantly covers boxing and MMA. In his spare time, he likes to watch Robbie Ahmat's goal against the Kangaroos at the SCG in 2000.