Ryder ban stands: Saints lose tribunal challenge

The AFL Tribunal has dismissed St Kilda’s attempt to have Paddy Ryder’s hit on Hawk Will Day downgraded, with the key ruckman still banned for two matches.

The league’s match review officer charged Ryder with rough conduct and graded the incident as careless, with high-impact and high contact.

Ryder made contact with Day’s head with his right shoulder in the second quarter of the Saints’ 69-point win at the MCG.

Paddy Ryder, right, in action during round four. Credit:Getty Images

Day was substituted out of the game at half-time with concussion, and the league’s protocols mean he cannot play for at least 12 days and will miss the Easter Monday clash against Geelong.

The Saints weren’t contesting the careless conduct or high contact classifications. Instead, they wanted the impact downgraded from high to medium.

In doing so, St Kilda’s player counsel, Jack Rush QC, referenced three other cases to back their argument – most notably Tim English’s clash with Nick Blakey, in which the Bulldog was not cited and the MRO said his actions were “not unreasonable in the circumstances”.

While tribunal chairman Jeff Gleeson, the former AFL counsel, ruled the English case could be submitted as evidence, the case was ultimately disregarded because the MRO hadn’t even considered it another case worthy of a rough conduct charge.

Gleeson said Day was “vulnerable” and the classification of “high” impact was correct.

“The charge and the classification are upheld,” Gleeson said. Fellow tribunal members David Neitz and Stephen Jurica deliberated for about 30 minutes.

Ryder was immediately apologetic after the hit, as Hawks players harassed him for choosing to bump. The AFL has made it clear that if a bump leads to a head knock, particularly a concussion, the offending player will face consequences.

In the Bulldogs-Swans round three incident, Blakey got back to his feet and played out the game.

“After disposing of the football, Blakey is met by the Western Bulldogs’ Tim English,” the MRO statement said.

“English gets to a stationary position before turning his body and making contact with player Blakey. It was determined by the MRO that English’s actions were not unreasonable in the circumstances. No further action was taken,” the MRO said at the time.

In his opening remarks at the tribunal, Rush wanted a similar ruling for Ryder.

“The contact made by the player on player Day was not unreasonable in the same way that the Blakey contact was not unreasonable,” Rush said.

However, the AFL’s counsel, Andrew Woods, noted that the contact between Ryder and Day was almost head-on. “It wasn’t quite front-on contact – but it wasn’t far off,” he said.

“There was certainly enough time for Ryder to avoid the collision, based on my submission.

“In essence … there was a potential to cause injury. It was a very hard, late bump.

“It doesn’t take a genius to see that there was a significant potential to cause injury in those circumstances.”

Rush took an entirely different view, contending that Ryder had his hand up as a defensive mechanism.

“This relates to momentum, impact and force … We would contend that player Ryder has stopped, has blocked in the sense of a basketball manoeuvre.

“The momentum here is [all coming from player Day].

“What we just saw depicted there is all the momentum of player Day … We contend that on a reasonable basis is player Ryder trying to minimise [contact].

“It is one step after Day has kicked the ball – that is when this contact has occurred. He [Ryder] is not running at this contest with speed.

“Which we say [the Blakey case] is very commensurable with the way player Ryder was moved into a contact with player Day.

“Just because there is concussion does not necessarily mean that the contact is high.

Post-match, St Kilda coach Brett Ratten defended Ryder’s actions.

“I saw the incident on replay, and I’ll let the tribunal or anybody to make an assessment, but it did look like he hit him pretty much up the front, so that will always hurt somebody,” Ratten said.

”He [Day] was quite open, and it looked pretty fair to me, but we will let others make these calls, that’s why they are in the game.”

While Day will miss the clash against Geelong under the concussion protocols, Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell said his player was “a bit battered, he’s a bit sore, and sorry for himself … it’s not ideal”.

”He entered the concussion protocols, so we’ll wait and leave that with the medical team and assess him through the week and look after him,” Mitchell added.

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