Essendon forward Peter Wright has been sent straight to the AFL Tribunal and could be facing a month on the sidelines for his collision with Sydney’s Harry Cunningham.
The brutal clash was instantly controversial, drawing comparisons to 2023 incidents like Tom Lynch’s bump on Alex Keath and Brayden Maynard’s collision with Angus Brayshaw which eventually ended the Demon’s career. Both were thrown out by the Tribunal.
But with the AFL keen to crack down on high contact and dangerous incidents, it always appeared likely Wright would be cited by the Match Review.
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The Bombers may argue the incident was a football act with Wright clearly seen telling teammates he was making a play on the ball in the immediate aftermath.
But it was cited as rough conduct, and graded as severe impact with high contact and careless conduct resulting in a direct referral to the Tribunal with a minimum of three matches, based on the matrix.
Cunningham was concussed and will miss at least one match due to the injury.
The hearing is likely to take place on Tuesday evening.
St Kilda’s Max King is also expected to head to the Tribunal this week to appeal his one-match ban for a bump on Collingwood’s Fin Macrae.
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