‘It wasn’t a push’: AFL coach hits out over star’s ‘very legal act’ that left two players concussed

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin has strongly declared forward Jake Melksham should have no case to answer despite two players ending up concussed in a nasty clash that marred the Demons’ win over West Coast on Saturday night.

In the incident, Melksham makes contact with Eagles defender Jeremy McGovern, who himself ends up clashing heads with Dees forward Harrison Petty in the marking contest.

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Both McGovern and Petty were concussed in that second quarter collision, with the duo failing to return for the second half.

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Speaking after his side’s 32-point win over West Coast, Goodwin said he he was concerned with how Petty came into the contest – which was through a one-one-one battle with Eagle Reuben Ginbey.

“I watched it a few times and I’m pretty clear that Melksham was contesting the ball – he marks the ball. You could argue whether it’s a free kick or not,” he said.

“If you watch the concussion of Petty pretty closely, how he got into that contest will be scrutinised as well I’m sure.

“At the end of the day you’ve got two players concussed – we hope Jeremy is OK. You certainly don’t want to see concussed players in the game.

“It wasn’t a push in the back, a push into the contest – (Melksham) was contesting the ball. The rules say you’re allowed to contest the ball.”

Melksham’s actions saw umpires award McGovern the free kick – which he took – instead of the Demon having a shot on goal given he ended up marking the footy.

“I’d argue that it wasn’t even a free kick and it was a mark – and he should have been having a shot at goal,” Goodwin said.

“These are the type of things in footy that are going to happen time to time – we don’t want them to happen but they are going to happen.

“He’s protecting the drop of the ball and contesting the ball – and if you’re doing that, that’s a football act in my mind.

“I’m sure there’ll be a lot of talk, a lot of debate around the incident. You end up woth two players concussed – sometimes you have to ask yourself how did Petty get into that contest?

“But Melksham from his perspective, he was contesting the ball. He was protecting the drop of the ball and that’s a very legal act in our game.”

Ginbey himself has history with the act of pushing a player into the contest, given he was cleared earlier this year by the MRO for contact he made on Sam Lalor that ended with the prized Tiger’s jaw fractured in a practice match.

Former Eagle Will Schofield was adamant Melksham’s actions would see him banned when the Match Review was handed out on Sunday.

“That’s weeks there, boys,” Schofield said.

“We’ve seen weeks given for a lot less (for) pushes into contests.”

At half-time, the Fox Footy panel analysed the contentious incident.

“I’m sure there’s going to be a lot spoken about this incident,” Fremantle great Matthew Pavlich said.

“Jake Melksham’s body use to get McGovern out the way, and he took the mark, but a free kick was paid against.

“I don’t think there’s much in it.”

Schofield reminded Pavlich that the league had set a precedent for such actions.

“The AFL have created this, they’ve suspended players on this before,” he said.

“I don’t think this should be a suspension. This, in our game, happens all the time — but we’ve seen three blokes be rubbed out because of exactly the same thing, because of the outcome.”

Richmond’s Rhyan Mansell was notably banned for three matches back in March for pushing St Kilda’s Liam O’Connell into oncoming traffic that left the Saint concussed on the spot.

But Pavlich maintained the incident involving Melksham and McGovern was slightly different.

“I’m not sure it’s exactly the same thing (as those other incidents), it’s a little bit different to the push into incoming traffic.”

Asked for his thoughts, former West Coast senior coach Adam Simpson posed: “Was the ball more than five meters away? That’s probably the biggest thing you’ve got to look at.

“All I know is it’s what you do — it’s what Melksham does to McGovern every time they play on each other — it’s a craft thing.”

Pavlich said: “It’s the consequence, right? If that concusses Jeremy McGovern, or if that breaks his jaw, then it’s a different story.”

Schofield concurred with the idea that it’s become more about the outcome than the action itself.

“I just think the way the AFL has been adjudicating these, it’s (about) the outcome,” he said.

“You get a player that hits their head getting pushed into a contest — that’s what they don’t want. Now, again, I don’t think that should be a suspension, but they’d be inconsistent if it’s not.

“You might think it shouldn’t be, but it will be, because the AFL has been doing that.”

Pavlich reiterated: “I see it a bit differently, I see it differently to the hands in the back, where a couple of players have been (pushed) into oncoming traffic — the Rhyan Mansell one is the one I think about.”

But as the second half was about to get underway, word filtered through that McGovern was indeed out of the match due to concussion.

“Outcome over action; that’ll be weeks,” Schofield defiantly said.

If Melksham’s act is deemed careless conduct, high contact and severe impact, he’d appear in line for a three-match ban.

However, Herald Sun chief football writer Jay Clark explained his belief Melksham would escape suspension due to having his eyes firmly on the Sherrin.

“We know the AFL put the whole competition on notice about that kind of incident, (and) you can see there’s a clear nudge, but I think Melksham will be cleared of this,” Clark told Fox Footy’s Super Saturday Live.

“There’s a couple of key cues to have a look at here. Melksham’s eyes are clearly on the ball. He’s watching the football as it comes in, and he uses his hip and his hip only to really nudge McGovern under the footy.

“It is very different to the Rhyan Mansell case, where … you see Mansell push with his hands, so it’s a clear push into traffic.

“The difference there is Rhyan is not involved in a marking contest. Melksham took the mark with eyes on the ball, using only his hip — that is a completely incident, and I suspect that Melksham will be cleared and free to play Hawthorn next week.”

Michael Christian will release any MRO findings from Saturday’s action on Sunday evening.