Where’s JJ? The curious case of disconnected Tribunal panelist

Was a Tribunal member really in a car at the end of the Zak Butters-Nick Foot hearing?

The AFL’s resident Tribunal guru in Melbourne is Fox Footy's David Zita who covered last night’s case and had a curious piece of information for Garry Lyon and Tim Watson on SEN Breakfast.

He says that former Essendon player Jason Johnson, on the Tribunal panel with Renee Enbom KC and Darren Gaspar, disconnected from the call before reappearing…

…in his car…

…and then remained part of the call while driving.

“There were closing submissions being made after everyone had given their evidence,” Zita said.

“Both parties were still giving their closing submissions and his camera went off for a short period of time. It came back on and it looked like the phone was behind the wheel, and he was driving a moving vehicle.

“He said it wouldn’t affect him but that’s what happened.

“It was during the closing submissions part of the hearing, and then he turned his camera off.”

The decision had not yet been handed down but the key panel member had to quickly take off.

“He had a prior commitment,” Zita added.

“Renee Enbom, the Tribunal chair, also had a prior commitment.

“I think the AFL’s view and the view of the other parties, according to the AFL, was they just wanted to get this done.

“Worst case scenario is we don’t get the reason until this morning, which is obviously what’s happened.

“It went quite close to the deadline to the point where whatever prior commitment he had, Jason Johnson appeared to be on his way to.

“I haven’t seen that before and I’ve covered a lot of these things.”

Lyon chimed in: “Surely Port Adelaide are entitled to say, ‘Hang on a minute, we’re fighting for our young man’s integrity here, surely we’re not asking too much from the AFL to have their three people remain in the room while we do it’.”

Zita continued: “I would agree with you completely.

“I’d also say that the other thing that was complicated that doesn’t normally happen is that the Lance Collard hearing was on 30 minutes earlier. They’ve only got two Tribunal chairs, Jeff Gleeson was on the other case, and another two panel members on that case.

“They were spread thin. But I agree with you, it’s not a great look when one of the members disconnects then reconnects and he’s in a car driving somewhere.

“That doesn’t look good regardless.”

Lyon: “That’s mind-blowing.

“This is where they sum it up, they make their serious pitch and in this instance one of the Tribunal members is fighting traffic somewhere.”

Zita: “Correct.”

Lyon: “Wow. We might put that to the AFL as well.

“Am I missing something here...”

Tom Morris later asked AFLPA CEO James Gallagher if a Tribunal member should be on the call while driving his car and making a determination on such a case?

“I think we’re a really professional game and we need to make sure that every element of the game reflects it,” he said.

It is indeed a curious case.