The Dangerfield case: Why Lyon and Watson feel ok about the decision

Was the AFL Tribunal right in clearing Geelong’s Patrick Dangerfield on Tuesday night?

The Cats captain beat his rough conduct charge for an arms-pinned tackle on Carlton’s Sam Walsh and is free to play against Essendon at the MCG this Saturday night.

Dangerfield’s one-game ban was overturned because Tribunal chair Jeff Gleeson found that he “pulled back with considerable force to attempt to prevent Walsh being driven into the ground”.

In response to the decision, V/AFL greats Garry Lyon and Tim Watson discussed if the Tribunal got it right and what it means for future cases.

“We all sat here yesterday and we were going to be really interested in what happens here because if he is found guilty of the charge then it sets a pretty strong precedent,” Melbourne champion Lyon said on SEN Breakfast.

“It would say there aren’t too many instances that you can’t get away with it in terms of if you tackle someone with their arms pinned. Because he did appear to try and mitigate the circumstances and that’s what the Tribunal ultimately found.

“They said that he ‘displayed considerable care to minimise injury’ and they said ‘this is rare but such a case that a player with both arms pinned will see the tackler get let off’. On this rare occasion he did.

“How do you feel about it?”

Watson concurs with the decision to clear Dangerfield given the veteran did everything in his power to avoid dumping Walsh into the turf.

“I feel ok about it,” the Essendon legend said.

“I think this is exactly why we set the system up the way that we do and that is if you get charged with something you get the opportunity to test it at a Tribunal, which they did.

“The circumstances to each and every tackle whereby somebody is pinned to the ground can be examined and they can be slightly different.

“Just because somebody’s arms are pinned it doesn’t necessarily mean that somebody was dangerously trying to tackle them to the ground.

“In explanation to the MRO in terms of what they’re looking for, they’ve said, ‘Ok, in a circumstance where somebody’s arms are pinned then that person should then be penalised in some way’. But having said that, as we’ve just seen with the Tribunal, anybody that looks at that would think he wasn’t driven into the ground when in fact if anything I thought that Patrick Dangerfield tried to support him even though he had both arms pinned.”

However, Lyon feels this can only be used as a guide and not a rule as it is such a rare occurrence that a player gets let off.

“If I’m a coach or a footy manager I’d be sitting my team down and saying, ‘Listen, let’s make sure we read what the Tribunal said really carefully - it is rare that a player who tackles someone and pins their arms and their head hits the ground gets let off’,” Lyon said.

Watson added: “That tackle there wasn’t why that rule was introduced.

“I’m with the Tribunal determination last night.”

Lyon replied: “I agree too, but there’ll be less of these outcomes as opposed to suspensions.”

Watson concluded: “We may not see another one exactly the same as that again this season. We may not see another one for the next five or 10 years.”

Listen to their discussion below: