Former Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley has voiced his disappointment over the tribunal's decision to not suspend star Richmond forward Tom Lynch.
Lynch was sent straight to the tribunal after the match review panel deemed that the forward’s collision with Bulldog’s defender Alex Keath, which led to Keath sustaining a concussion, was careless conduct with high contact and severe impact.
The Tigers key forward was able to escape suspension although the result is relatively meaningless due to the fact that Lynch was already set to spend an extended period of time on the sidelines after injuring his foot in the same match over the weekend.
Buckley disagrees with the tribunal's decision to overturn Lynch’s ban as he believes the star Tiger should have been suspended due to the fact that he chose to not contest the football.
“I think I called it agricultural in the call,” Buckley told SEN’s Whateley.
“I think Tom Lynch is an old school forward and I think he is a player that plays with a bit of physicality. I think he is a player who makes his teammates walk taller around him because he goes at contests and he goes at bodies unlike a lot of players in the competition these days.
“I believe that, and this is my opinion and it’s based on nothing other than watching the game, I believe that he was aware that Alex Keath was coming back and decided that he would make contact and that he was going to be able to bring the ball to ground in that instance.
“He is a chest marker so he was probably setting up for a chest mark, it was very slippery as well. He would probably argue that he was thinking about going for a chest mark, saw the player out of the corner of his eye and then decided to make contact with him rather than contest the ball.
“That’s what I viewed and I thought that the tribunal would uphold that.
“If that ball was on the ground and that player was attacking a ground ball and decided not to go and contest the ground ball, like had misjudged their attack on a ground ball and then set themselves and knocked out a player who was coming into that contest, does that player get off? I don’t think so.”
Although Buckley understands that players have the right to protect themselves in a marking contest, the former Collingwood captain believes Lynch was still intending to hurt Keath.
“I don’t believe that Tom Lynch should keep himself open in that situation, I think that he is entitled to protect himself. But I also think that you can protect yourself but you still must make a play on the football as soon as you give up attacking the football, eyes on the football, trying to make a football play I don't think protecting yourself is a defence,” Buckley said.
“Tom Lynch isn’t so much of a high jumper, but he is a person who knows the drop of the ball, knows where the bodies are and manipulates his position to protect the drop of the ball and then goes to it either with his hands or a chest mark.
“I think he could’ve chosen to do that; it might’ve been the same result for Alex Keath in the end, but it would have been a football action. Like actually going at the ball and defending yourself in the process.
“I think there’s no doubt he was defending himself and making sure that there was no damage to him from Alex Keath coming back with courage. I think there was a little bit of intent in it as well but as we know we’ve taken intent out of the whole thing; we can’t prove intent. So, you needed to prove that it was reckless or careless and they were able to argue that away.”
Lynch is expected to miss up to three months of football with a fractured foot.