Brisbane Lions captain Harris Andrews has had his three-week suspension upheld at the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday night.
The Lions were hoping to have his high shot downgraded with the star defender labelling it as nothing more than an “unfortunate accident”.
Watch every match of every round of the Premiership Season LIVE and ad-break free during play on FOX FOOTY, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.
Despite the lengthy nature of the defence, the Tribunal stuck with the match review officer’s finding and upheld the three-week ban.
Andrews will now miss matches against Sydney, St Kilda and Collingwood before returning in Round 5.
The case for Andrews centred around him stating he was intending to do nothing more than shepherd Western Bulldogs player Arthur Jones away from the ball in an attempt to create space for teammate Dayne Zorko.
He said he assumed he was upright when he put his arm to initiate the shepherd.
“It’s a very unfortunate accident … I believe I took care, seeing Jones on his feet. Unfortunately I’ve made contact with his face,” Andrews said.
He added separately later on: “I pride myself as a fair player and someone who looks out for the duty of care for all players on the field at all times, I did absolutely feel a bit of remorse.”
But after close to an hour of giving evidence, the Tribunal deliberated before handing out their ruling and slapping the Lions captain down.
“We find that this attempted shepherd by Harris Andrews on Arthur Jones was clearly a careless strike,” Tribunal chairperson Jeff Gleeson said.
“Andrews did not know precisely where the ball was when he threw his arm back, but he knew it was close by.
“Andrews did not know where his teammate Zorko was, or whether he was about to collect the ball, but said he assumed that Zorko was on his feet and would be collecting the loose ball.
“The basis for this assumption wasn’t clear, given that Zorko was in the same marking contest as Andrews and Jones that caused the ball to spill to ground.
“Andrews did not know where Jones’ head was when he threw his arm back. He said that he assumed that he was in an upright position because his view of Jones as Andrews looked over his right shoulder prior to swinging his arm back led him to believe that.
“That momentary and only partial view of Jones occurred when Jones was to the right of Andrews and to Andrews’ knowledge was moving across and behind Andrews.
“Andrews’ assumption that Jones would have remained upright or sufficiently upright at the moment he made contact with his swinging arm was not reasonable.
“Given that Andrews knew that the ball was loose and knew that Jones was moving towards the ball, a reasonable player would assume that it was likely, or at least highly possible, that Jones would bend down or be in the process of bending down to pick up the ball.
“For Andrews to swing his arm back force when he knew his opponent was immediately behind him and knew he was moving and he knew that he was moving towards the ball, but when he did not know where his opponent’s head was, was unreasonable in the circumstances.
“We find that the impact was severe. The force of the blow left Jones motionless on the turf for a period of time, and he suffered a concussion and immediate bruising below his eye.
“There is nothing about the impact that leads us to conclude that other factors relevant to impact are more consistent with a lesser impact rating.
“We find that this is a careless strike with high contact and severe impact.”
Earlier in the night, fellow Lions player Darcy Gardiner attempted to have his one-week ban overturned.
Lions representative Adrian Anderson argued that the initial contact made by Gardiner was to the shoulder of Naughton before it slipped up, with contact to the head not of sufficient force to constitute a reportable offence.
However, Tribunal chairperson Jeff Gleeson said in his verdict declaration that the force of Gardiner’s contact was “more than negligible”, with the backman to miss Brisbane’s Saturday night showdown with the Swans.
The Opening Round loss at the hands of the Dogs has come at a heavy price for the Lions who will be without three stars for this weekend.
