Campbell Brown believes Thursday night’s decision to overturn Patrick Cripps’ suspension was the right one.
Cripps, who copped a two-match ban for rough conduct on Brisbane’s Callum Ah Chee, survived a four-and-a-half-hour marathon case to be cleared free to play against Melbourne on Saturday night.
Cripps’ bump was initially graded carless conduct, high impact and high contact, justifying the initial two-week ban.
Brown disagrees, saying he saw it as a football action and that there was nothing illegal about it.
“I was really glad that he got off, I still saw it as a football action,” Brown told SEN’s Dwayne’s World.
“It was really unfortunate that Callum Ah Chee got hurt in that act, but he didn’t choose to bump, it’s not like the ball was on the ground and he had a decision whether he tackled or bumped, and he chose to bump and hurt him.
“It was in the air, it was a live ball, you’re allowed to run and jump at a player in a marking contest, and I associated it the same as the ball was there to be won and he used his body as a battering ram.
“There’s nothing illegal about that.”
The appeal decision is a huge boost for the Blues, whose finals hopes depend on winning at least one of the next two games against the Demons or Collingwood.
Despite agreeing with the decision at the AFL Appeals Board, Brown says the surpirsing outcome highlights how confused we as AFL fans are.
“I think it’s an example of where we’re at as a game, confused,” he added.
“The AFL, the MRO and the Tribunal are always at loggerheads as to what decisions are deemed acceptable under the circumstance.
“It’s embarrassing for the AFL that the MRO can come up with a decision, it gets challenged and more often than not when you got to the Tribunal it gets thrown out.
“The number of cases that have gone to the Tribunal and they’ve thrown the case out means whatever is happening at AFL land with the MRO and then the rest of the football world and the Tribunal sits under that are thinking very differently.
“That needs to change, it shouldn’t be so grey, it should be black and white on these decisions.
“I don’t think too many people in the footy world thought what Cripps did was malicious, it wasn’t dangerous, obviously it got a result that was unfortunate, we don’t like injuries but sometimes in a contact sport injuries do occur.
“You can’t stamp every single injury out.
“I didn’t think it was a bump, I think it’s good technique to be honest, to me a bump is when you curl yourself right up into a ball and try and run through an opponent in a marking contest or a ground ball, this was very different.”