North Melbourne ruckman Tristan Xerri is expected to cop a suspension after appearing to wipe his own blood on an opposition player during his side’s win on Saturday night.
The Kangaroos defeated Essendon by 12 points in a contest between two teams expected to finish towards the bottom of the ladder this season.
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Tensions boiled over in the first half when Xerri was knocked to the turf by an elbow from Essendon’s Archie Roberts after Andrew McGrath bumped into Xerri.
The heavy hit left blood pouring from Xerri’s nose and the North ruckman expressed his disapproval by touching the blood on his nose and wiping it on McGrath’s face after kicking a goal.
The pair exchanged words but Xerri can expect a ban for the incident that was widely condemned by commentators.
Footy reporter Lauren Wood wrote on X: “Did Xerri just wipe his blood on McGrath’s face?! Big no thanks.”
The Herald Sun’s Jay Clark described on Fox Footy’s coverage it as “a moment of madness” by Xerri.
“Watch what he does with his hands — grabs some of that blood and thrusts it on the face of Andrew McGrath, the captain of Essendon.
“That is a horrible look for kids out there, for junior players. This is a serious misconduct charge under the AFL Tribunal guidelines.
“That means it will be referred directly to the Tribunal and we’re looking at multiple weeks suspensions, possibly two weeks.
“Nathan Buckley got one for doing it 20 years ago to Cameron Ling.”
Leigh Montagna said on Fox Footy: “I certainly think that needs to go to the Tribunal and he needs to cop a sanction.
“That’s a horrible look. It’s not acceptable and not something we’ve seen for a long time.
“I’m not sure what Tristan Xerri was thinking in that situation but we can’t have that.
“Most likely he’ll be missing some football.”
The Kangaroos claimed a 12.9 (81) to 9.15 (69) victory, their second win of the season, while the Bombers remain winless so far this season.
