Richmond’s Tom Lynch has come clean on why his right hand needed to be airbrushed for the club’s team photo.
The towering forward insists he wasn’t flipping off the photographer or trying to be cheeky, he simply just can’t help it.
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Lynch has a permanently fused joint on the middle finger on his right hand, caused after it had become dislocated.
It means the 33-year-old is unable to form a fist with his right hand and during the team photo, the problem became evidently clear.
Lynch spoke about the incident with Hamish McLachlan on Channel 7’s Unfiltered, saying the photographer had to do a lot of work to clean up the photos.
“We’ve got to clench your fists for team photos, it’s the old footy (tradition), so I did that without thinking about it,” he said.
“Unfortunately the photographer thought I was giving the rude finger to them.
“The photographer wasn’t too happy with me, which he thought I was playing the joke on him, which I didn’t think I was that immature.
“I think he was pretty annoyed going through every photo in there airbrushing it out.”
Lynch’s middle finger became a key piece of defence during a Tribunal hearing in July last year when the Tigers attempted to clear him of a striking charge.
Lynch was not enjoying the close attention of Adelaide defender Jordon Butts and late in the first quarter he lashed out after a marking contest, turning and whacking the Crows player across the face/head area.
The Tigers attempted to argue that the incident was not done with a closed fist due to Lynch’s fused joint.
“Nowhere on the footage is there clear evidence of a clenched fist, particularly at the point of impact,” Sam Tovey said in Lynch’s defence.
“In order to uphold a ‘severe’ grading, the Tribunal would need to be clearly satisfied contact was made with a fully clenched fist.”
Lynch said he had not swung a punch at Butts, instead it was a swiping motion. Despite this the AFL said regardless of it was a closed fist or not, the force of the swing had potential to cause injury.
“It’s a blatant, forceful swinging arm … it was the type of action of a bygone era. The AFL position is quite simple, there’s no place for it in our game,” the AFL’s Nick Pane said.
Lynch was ultimately hit with a five-match suspension over the incident.
