Port to appeal Moore’s three-week ban
Port Adelaide will appeal midfielder Andrew Moore’s three-game ban for making contact with an umpire.
Moore, tipped as a possible replacement for the Power’s injured Ollie Wines, was given the penalty by the SANFL tribunal for intentionally making contact with umpire Craig Fleer after the quarter-time siren in the match against North Adelaide at Alberton on Saturday.
Port Adelaide decided to appeal the ban this morning.
Before the SANFL tribunal on Tuesday night, Moore pleaded guilty to making contact with Fleer.
Moore admitted making contact with Fleer but said the force of the contact was ‘’slight.’’
‘’There was no malice intended at all,’’ Moore told the tribunal.
On Monday, the 23-year-old’s case was referred directly to the tribunal by the SANFL’s Incident Review Panel, in accordance with the 2015 SANFL Tribunal guidelines.
SANFL tribunal commissioner Ian White rejected Moore’s defence that he was recreating a previous offence on North Adelaide player Heath Caldwell, saying that umpire Fleer was forced to ‘’take a step and a half’’ backwards.
‘’SANFL umpires are very young,’’ said White, who was joined by panel members David Swain and Tom Hurley.
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‘’So the SANFL and its affiliated leagues have to take a stance against a player who pushes an umpire.’’
Moore will miss the Magpies’ Anzac Eve clash with arch-rival Norwood at Adelaide Oval on Friday night as well as being unavailable for AFL selection for the Power against Hawthorn on Saturday night.
Meanwhile, Chris Yarran’s hearing at the AFL tribunal revealed that the Blues defender collected Essendon’s Paul Chapman with a left jab seconds after thinking the veteran had tried to headbutt him.
The AFL tribunal handed Yarran a three-match ban for the solid punch, thrown in the early minutes of Saturday’s match at the MCG.
The blow left Chapman with a cut above the right eye that needed stitches and gave him blurred vision.
But he is expected to play in Saturday’s Anzac Day blockbuster against Collingwood.
Yarran will miss Saturday’s game in Wellington against St Kilda, followed by matches against Collingwood and Brisbane.
It is another blow for Carlton who are in big trouble at 0-3.
While the Blues were hoping the backman would only miss two games, they will accept the penalty.
The incident was deemed serious enough for direct referral to the tribunal, giving Yarran no option of taking an early plea.
It was the first time the panel has sat this season.
Yarran predictably pleaded guilty, but his counsel Marcus Clarke argued there were compelling and exceptional circumstances leading up to the striking incident.
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Vision of the lead-up to Yarran’s punch showed Chapman first pushing him and then grappling between the pair.
That’s when Yarran said he felt contact to his chin.
“I actually thought he was trying to headbutt me – that’s when I got a bit agitated,” he said.
Yarran later conceded it might not have been a direct headbutt.
But he added that Chapman also made solid contact with an elbow to the ribs.
“I thought I’d give a bit back – I didn’t want to be pushed around,” he said.
After Yarran’s evidence, Chapman also spoke to the tribunal on a telephone link and emphatically denied trying to headbutt the Blues backman.
“There was no headbutt thrown by me – if there was head contact, it was unintentional,” the Bombers hard nut said.
“It escalated pretty quickly – you don’t expect a punch to the head.”
Tribunal advocate Jeff Gleeson QC argued for a four to five-week ban.
“Mr Yarran is balanced and squared so he could deliver the blow with some force,” Gleeson said of the punch.
But Clarke successfully compared this incident to Ty Vickery’s four-match suspension last season.
The Richmond player’s roundhouse that took out West Coast opponent Dean Cox was also sent directly to the tribunal, with no option of an early plea.
Clarke noted that the Vickery incident was severe, but Yarran’s contact was deemed to be the lesser level of high.
Yarran said during the hearing and afterwards that he was sorry for the incident.
“I accept the tribunal’s sanction – it wasn’t my intention to hurt Paul, who I respect enormously,” he said.
– AAP and www.sanfl.com.au
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