PORT Adelaide midfielder Sam Powell-Pepper and Geelong’s Luke Dahlhaus are free to play this week after overturning their respective one-match bans at the AFL Tribunal.
Dahlhaus had his rough conduct charge for a dangerous tackle on Adelaide’s Matt Crouch downgraded, meaning he escaped with a $1500 fine and can now play the Western Bulldogs on Friday night.
The tackle was initially assessed as careless conduct, medium impact and high contact.
But Geelong’s lawyer Ben Ihle convinced the jury that the contact shouldn’t be classified as high given there was no clear evidence Crouch’s head actually hit the ground during the tackle.
Instead, Dahlhaus pleaded guilty to the lesser rough conduct charge of contact to the body.
Powell-Pepper was cleared on his charge.
His final-quarter tackle on Hawthorn’s Ben McEvoy last Saturday was initially assessed as careless conduct, medium impact and high contact.
During the tackle, Powell-Pepper wrapped his arms around McEvoy’s waist and slammed the Hawthorn big man backwards into the turf.
McEvoy’s backside hits the turf first before his head snapped back.
The AFL’s legal counsel Jeff Gleeson said the problem with the tackle was with how it finished up, stating McEvoy was in a vulnerable position because he was falling backwards.
The jury took 20 minutes to find Powell-Pepper not guilty, saying they weren’t satisfied that the player used unreasonable force.
Port’s lawyer Ben Krupka had earlier argued that the force Powell-Pepper used was reasonable given he was tackling a man who is 200cm tall and weighs more than 100kg, and therefore it shouldn’t be classed as rough conduct.
“We say there’s nothing you can criticise the technique for,” Mr Krupka said of the tackle.
“This is not a show of strength. This is a tackle on a man mountain with the force required to bring him to ground.”
Powell-Pepper admitted to using maximum force to bring down McEvoy, but didn’t believe it was unreasonable.
“I went to tackle him and he shrugged me and got his arms free, so I lost balance and my only choice was to bring him down with me,” Powell-Pepper said during the hearing.
Richmond pair Dylan Grimes and Nick Vlastuin have challenged their staging charges through written submissions to the tribunal.
Grimes was offered a $1250 sanction as a second offence, while Vlastuin’s first staging offence drew a $750 fine.
Melbourne winger Ed Langdon and Adelaide’s Lachlan Murphy are challenging their respective $1500 fines for rough conduct (dangerous tackle) via written submissions.
The results of all four of those cases are expected to be handed down by Wednesday.
(C) AAP 2020
