St Kilda are appealing Ben Long’s one-game suspension in a bid to free the defender for Friday night’s crunch AFL semi-final against Richmond.
The Saints are lodging their appeal, after the AFL tribunal on Monday night upheld his ban for rough conduct against the Western Bulldogs’ Jack Macrae.
The club will put Long’s case before an appeal board on Wednesday night.
St Kilda coach Brett Ratten said Long never meant to collect the Bulldogs midfielder with a high bump.
“Ben’s intention wasn’t to hit Jack Macrae, his intention was to impact the contest at the centre bounce,” Ratten told SEN on Tuesday.
Long is currently set to be the Saints’ third forced change after ruckman Paddy Ryder suffered a season-ending hamstring tendon injury and defender Jake Carlisle left Queensland to be with his partner ahead of the birth of their third child.
Long had pleaded guilty to the rough conduct charge – considered careless conduct, high contact and medium impact – but attempted to have it downgraded to low impact, which would have reduced his sanction to a fine.
Macrae played out the game after Long’s bump and the Saints leaned heavily on the Bulldogs’ medical report at the tribunal.
Ratten said the Saints may consider a different role for Long but they will continue their aggression from the back-half.
“If you look at a lot of teams in the way they play, I reckon half the teams in the competition have a halfback running in very hard,” he said.
“We’ll have to make a decision whether we have Ben doing that or someone else. It’s part of the game, halfbacks coming in.”
The medical report stated Macrae had required immediate on-field assessment but did not need to leave the field for treatment, there was no need for further investigation or ongoing treatment.
The AFL’s legal counsel Jeff Gleeson QC focused on Long’s momentum and the bump’s “significant, forceful impact” and its potential to cause injury.
After hearing an hour of arguments, then deliberating for close to half an hour, the tribunal jury of Richard Loveridge, David Neitz and Paul Williams upheld the “medium” impact grading.
The jury said vision showed Macrae’s head “snaps back on contact” from Long’s shoulder, which indicated “clearly more than a glancing contact”, and were surprised the Bulldog had “got up as readily as he did.”