The GWS Giants have cleared Toby Bedford of rough conduct, leaving him free to play in Saturday’s elimination final against St Kilda.
Bedford’s rough conduct ban for his bump on Zac Fisher in round 24 was upheld at Monday’s AFL Tribunal hearing, but the Giants lodged a final challenge at the AFL Appeal Board on Thursday.
There, they successfully argued the Tribunal’s decision “was so unreasonable that no Tribunal acting reasonably could have come to that decision having regard to the evidence before it.”
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Bedford has been a key cog in the Giants’ success this season, with his forward pressure and playmaking ability setting up scores for his side.
The grounds for appeal at the AFL Appeal Board are:
– An error of law that has a material impact on the decision of the Tribunal.
– That the decision was so unreasonable that no Tribunal acting reasonably could have come to that decision having regard to the evidence before it.
– Classification of offence manifestly excessive or inadequate.
– Sanction imposed manifestly excessive or inadequate.
The Giants opted to appeal on the second ground, centering on the Tribunal’s decision that Bedford’s high contact was ‘forceful’.
Ben Ihle, representing the Giants, said the Tribunal did not give adequate regard to the biomechanist’s evidence of Zac Fisher, which were both heard on Monday night.
Ihle said: “It is impossible based on the video to determine the level of force (of high contact).”
That view was reinforced by the biomechanist’s evidence on Monday night, which read: “It is not possible to determine or form an opinion about the forcefulness of the impact between Bedford and Fisher from the video.”
Fisher’s evidence was handled in an “illogical” way by the Tribunal, Ihle added.
Later, Ihle concluded: “The reasons given by the Tribunal demonstrate it was unreasonable in its approach & conclusion on forcefulness. The decision & reasons showed no logical path of reasoning, nor any evidence for it to find in a way that it did. That decision should be reversed.”
The AFL, represented by Lisa Hannon, argued there was no conflation of issues in the Tribunal’s ruling to uphold Bedford’s ban.
She also argued the Tribunal was well within its rights to rule in the way it did given the AFL experience on the panel.
After a lengthy deliberation period, Bedford was cleared to play.
“We recognise in coming to this conclusion that the Tribunal faced the most difficult case in all circumstances and for that reason we propose to hand down written reasons in the near future,” Appeal Board chairperson Murray Kellam said.
“In essence, we accept the submissions made by Ihle (Giants) on behalf of Bedford relating to the evidence or the lack of evidence that was before the Tribunal.
“We accept it was open to the Tribunal to find that there was contact by the body of Bedford with Fisher’s head, however in our view neither the evidence nor the reasons expressed by the Tribunal in respect of such evidence is sufficient to establish that such contact was “forceful” as required by the AFL regulations.
“Accordingly, we set aside the decision of the Tribunal.”
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