Collingwood great Scott Pendlebury is trying to overturn the first suspension in his glittering 427-game AFL career at the AFL Tribunal tonight. Live from 5pm AEDT!
The Magpies midfielder was cited for rough conduct after his collision with Adelaide’s Josh Worrell during Round 1’s loss. The incident was graded as careless conduct with medium impact and high contact, resulting in a one-match ban.
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Pendlebury can attempt to downgrade the ban on impact grounds, or by arguing he braced rather than bumped, though this has historically not been a successful argument.
Alternatively Pendlebury can use his historically clean record to argue he has an exemplary record which means there are exceptional and compelling circumstances to downgrade the sanction – a rule colloquially known as the ‘good bloke clause’.
Nobody has played more games without suspension in V/AFL history than Pendlebury, though he has been fined several times in the last few years and was lucky to avoid a ban on one occasion, meaning he is not a total on-field cleanskin.
The situation is similar to, but not the same as, Charlie Cameron arguing his good character and record were enough to warrant a fine, not a suspension, in 2024.
The character rule which Cameron used no longer exists and only a good record can be cited.
“When you watch it in real time and you put yourself in that position as a player that’s just come out of the game, they’re hard decisions to make on the fly,” Geelong’s Tom Hawkins said on Fox Footy’s On the Couch.
“Where you’ve got to change the way you approach an opposition player or the contest.
“I feel for Scott in that situation. Clearly he’s got a good record for a reason.”
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