‘Protecting the Brownlow’: AFL savaged as star freed after acts which ‘put people in wheelchairs’

Fox Footy’s David King has called for Laura Kane and the AFL to “review” the Match Review Officer’s decision not to suspend Port Adelaide star Zak Butters, as well as slamming the leniency afford to Adelaide’s Matt Crouch.

Butters was cleared of suspension after he collided with Fremantle’s Bailey Banfield in a ground-ball contest on Saturday night at Adelaide Oval.

Specifically, the two-time North Melbourne premiership player questioned whether the AFL was more focussed on protecting Butters’ Brownlow Medal eligibility than it was about ensuring Banfield’s safety.

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An MRO-imposed ban would have rendered the Power onballer ineligible from winning the league’s best-and-fairest award, with the 23-year-old shaping as a strong candidate for this year’s honour.

“I want to know if we’re protecting the head or we’re protecting the Brownlow, because we have talked about this until we’re blue in the face,” King said on Fox Footy’s First Crack on Sunday night.

“The duty of care discussion comes up … I’ve sat and listened to (the AFL’s) Laura Kane and Stephen Meade in the pre-season period say: ‘we’re taking a tougher stance on any head contact’.

“We have to protect players who play our game. If you choose to come into a contest in a reckless fashion and make contact with the head, expect to go (be banned).”

While King took particular exception to the Butters incident, he was also incensed about the one-week sanction Crouch received.

“Look at that (referencing the Crouch incident). You’re telling me that’s one week? That’s got spinal injury written all over it. Look at that! That is the exact action that puts people in wheelchairs,” King said.

“And people say: ‘you’re being too dramatic’. We are still waiting for someone to be carried from the field to never walk again before we take this seriously.”

King voiced his concern that Butters was the beneficiary of favouritism because of his star status in the competition.

“I’m over it, I really am … I think if it was Jimmy Webster he gets four weeks,” King said.

“But because it’s Zak Butters and he’s in contention for all the major awards and he’s a star-factor player, we go in a different mode. We find ourselves making excuses: ‘oh, he got a hand on the ball’.

“To me, you’re either taking a stance and you’re protecting the welfare of all players — not just the one (star player) — all players, or you’re not, and I’m disappointed that after all the progress we made in the previous 18 months, we’ve given it all back at Round 5.”

287-gamer Leigh Montagna asked: “If Zak Butters is making a genuine play for the ball, what’s the act that’s reportable?”

“The hitting of the head,” King sharply responded. “And coming in with the potential to cause serious injury.

“You can’t tell me, at that speed, there is no potential for serious injury. That’s the grading, that’s the measure.”

Montagna said: “But there’s potential for injury in our game.”

“We’re taking a stance on that,” King replied. “We’re actually taking a considered stance on taking out some percentages that are elevated for concussion and head trauma. We’re going to court to fight this exact case. Who are we protecting?”

Montagna believed that if a player exclusively attacks the ball, they can’t be sanctioned — citing Essendon forward Peter Wright’s four-match ban.

“I’m conditioned to believe that if you genuinely play the ball, you can’t get suspended,” he said.

“It’s like the Peter Wright incident. The only reason Peter Wright got four weeks was because at the last minute, he braced like Matt Crouch did, which is why I’m OK with him getting suspended.

“But we were told that if Peter Wright kept his eyes on the ball, he could’ve knocked (Harry) Cunningham into next week and it would’ve been fine, because (he’d be) genuinely going for the ball.”

However, King said the situation was black and white.

“You’re either protecting the head, or you’re not,” he continued. “You can’t mix and match. They’ve muddied the waters again (in) Round 5.”

He called for Kane, the league’s executive general manager, to make a statement on Monday.

“I honestly think Laura Kane needs to come out tomorrow and say: ‘you know what, we’re reviewing this, we’re having another look and a deeper consultation (about) where this sits’,” King said.

“And the Crouch one — one week? Mate, come on, that’s centimetres from a spinal injury. One week. We’re stamping it out, are we?

“That! One week? One week and we’re stamping it out? Give me a spell, seriously.”

King said players in Banfield’s position need to be prioritised, rather than superstars such as Butters.

“If you attack the contest at that speed — and we marvel at these players, I take my hat off to all of them, I think they’re incredibly brave — at some point, we have to think about Banfield, not Butters,” King concluded.

“It’s not about the Brownlow … I think if he was a lesser name player that he would’ve got suspended.”