Richmond superstar Dustin Martin has been slammed for his “cheap shot” elbow by Fox Footy’s Mark Robinson, who warned the AFL had set a dangerous precedent by only handing the Tiger a fine.
Martin escaped a ban for his off-the-ball elbow that dropped Eagle Alex Witherden to the turf during the win over West Coast on Sunday.
And the Match Review’s finding left Robinson fuming as he labelled Martin’s actions “unacceptable”.
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“If you flagrantly send an elbow back into the darkness, I know it only hit him (in the chest), but if you send it back, you lose your right to play,” Robinson said on AFL 360.
“Because that’s not in the rules to flail an elbow back.
“What if it’s flicked up and hit him in the jaw? ‘Sorry I didn’t mean to do it’ – you did it!
“The AFL says ‘Nah it’s OK Dusty, you’ll be right, the contact wasn’t really severe’.
“So we’re going to allow that kids!
“All you kids out there, do it this weekend. (Co-host Gerard Whateley interjects: “Don’t say that!”) But this is the problem, Gerard.
“They’ll see it, and they’ll do it.
“He’s guilty, suspend him.”
While admitting he was being “facetious” by calling on kids to copy Martin’s moves, Robinson was left angered by the $3000 fine handed to the Tiger with an early guilty plea.
“The swinging elbow back has always been frowned upon. It’s a pretty cheap shot,” he lamented.
“To flail back to a guy who’s not expecting it.
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“The AFL should have said, ‘No you’re out Dusty, you can sit. We don’t care who you are, that’s unacceptable in our game’.
“And kids don’t do that.
“The point I was making now, I was being facetious, if we’re going to allow that and not be a suspension, ah well, might as well do it. Everyone do it this weekend – who cares!”
Robinson said he believed the AFL took a lighter stance on Martin because of his standing as a great of the game – a three-time Norm Smith medallist and three-time premiership star.
“I feel because it’s Dustin Martin he got off,” he said.
“I was watching The Last Dance … and it was about Michael Jordan. Magic Johnson, Larry Bird complaining that Michael Johnson never gets fouls called against him and I’m sitting here thinking, I betcha he gets off because it’s Dustin Martin and people say, that’s ridiculous.”
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Hawk Jai Newcombe was also slapped with a fine for his “cheap punch to the guts” on Roo Harry Sheezel, but walked away with a $2000 penalty.
“It doesn’t make it right,” Robinson said.
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