St Kilda’s Jake Carlisle could become the sixth AFL player this season to try his luck at the tribunal after being charged with striking.
The Saints are a strong chance to head to the tribunal on Tuesday night in the hopes of downgrading Carlisle’s two-game suspension.
Richmond premiership forward Jack Riewoldt was concussed after Carlisle’s clumsy and late attempted spoil during the first quarter of Saturday’s clash at the MCG.
AFL match review officer Michael Christian assessed the incident as careless conduct with high impact to the head.
The Saints have until 11am on Tuesday to launch a tribunal challenge but coach Alan Richardson has hinted they will seek to have Carlisle’s ban downgraded to one game.
“Our gut feel was that it would be a week,” Richardson told Fox Footy’s AFL 360.
“I think the players have always got a really good feel for this. No one remonstrated with Jake – it was a clumsy accident that got him high.
“We were a little bit surprised with two (games) so that’s the conversation that we’ll have.”
Changes to the match review system this year have provided something of an incentive for clubs to challenge suspensions before the tribunal.
Unlike previous years, there is no risk of players receiving an increased sanction for an unsuccessful trip to the tribunal, although clubs must forfeit a $10,000 fee.
Five players have opted to challenge suspensions this season with just two successful.
Geelong skipper Joel Selwood and North Melbourne counterpart Jack Ziebell each managed to overturn one-match bans for striking and kneeing their respective opponents.
West Coast superstar Nic Naitanui, Adelaide’s Richard Douglas and Richmond’s Jack Graham had their suspensions upheld.
Another seven players, including Geelong’s Tom Hawkins, Hawthorn’s James Sicily and North Melbourne’s Lindsay Thomas, committed offences which led to them being referred directly to the tribunal under AFL guidelines.
Carlisle is a key player for the Saints, who are languishing in 16th place and need all the help they can get.
Richardson noted the Carlisle incident was similar to Josh Caddy’s round-two hit on Adelaide’s David Mackay which landed the Tiger a one-game ban.
“If we go that way, that’ll be the argument,” Richardson said.
