North Melbourne and the AFL match review panel could be at odds again in the wake of Sunday’s spiteful first half against Melbourne.
The Kangaroos’ win is certain to keep the MRP busy on Monday, thanks to a succession of incidents.
The Demons clearly tried to put pressure on North’s Shaun Higgins from the opening bounce and that triggered a series of spot fires, before the game settled down in the second half.
North midfielder Ben Cunnington, one of their best despite hurting his leg in the first term, will come under scrutiny for punching Higgins’ opponent Bernie Vince in the gut.
Vince had to leave the field briefly and was dry-retching on the interchange bench.
But North coach Brad Scott was adamant that the MRP had already set a precedent with similar incidents.
“The MRP have made their stance pretty clear on things like that,” Scott said.
“Unless they make a public statement that they’re not going to tolerate that anymore then they have to tolerate it until they do.”
Scott was fuming a fortnight ago after Jarrad Waite was suspended for a tackle that left Adelaide’s Tom Lynch concussed.
Then last week, the Kangaroos privately expressed surprise that the MRP did not even appear to look at a tackle that left Trent Dumont with delayed concussion, forcing him out of Sunday’s win.
Apart from Cunnington, Higgins and Vince, several other players also could find themselves in hot water after incidents on Sunday – among them Melbourne’s Christian Salem and Tomas Bugg.
Jumper punches were thrown freely and Scott said it was up to the umpires, not the MRP, to crack down on them.
Scott, in his day one of the AFL’s toughest players, is no fan of jumper punches and calls them cheap shots.
He said if umpires handed out free-kicks for high contact, the coaches would make sure their players stopped the practice.
“A lot of that sort of stuff isn’t really for the MRP because they use level of force as a guide,” he said.
“The level of force isn’t high enough to warrant (the) MRP … but I think the umpires can make a pretty strong stand early when it’s going on.”
