Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir believes his captain Alex Pearce should have no case to answer for the collision that left Port’s Darcy Byrne-Jones concussed on Saturday night.
Longmuir says Pearce had no choice and “would have been crucified” had he pulled out of the contest as Byrne-Jones bravely went back with the flight in his side’s 49-point loss to the Dockers.
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While Byrne-Jones was able to walk from the ground, he was ruled out of the contest at half time with concussion.
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Speaking after his side’s victory, Longmuir was adamant the collision shouldn’t have even been a free kick.
“I’m not concerned at all,” Longmuir said when quizzed on a possible ban for Pearce.
“Extreme courage to go back with the flight like that and touch the ball before Alex gets there, but from what I see Alex is making a play on the ball – don’t think he makes contact with the head.
“What’s Alex supposed to do in that situation? Pull out of that contest and let him mark it going back with the flight?
“He’d get crucified if Alex pulled out of that contest – that’s what would happen.
“I don’t have any issues with it.”
It’s a similar statement to the one made by Demons coach Simon Goodwin earlier this season when his forward Jake Melksham caused the contact that saw two players – teammate Harrison Petty and Eagle Jeremy McGovern – concussed.
In that instance, Goodwin argued it shouldn’t have been a free kick against Melksham, who was later cleared for his role in the injuries.
“There’s things that happen in our game -there’s unfortunate contact that happens in our game,” Longmuir said.
“It happens in marking contests a lot – I see it as one of those situations.
“I didn’t think it was a free kick – I’ve got no issues with it being paid a free kick but I didn’t really think it was a free kick. I thought it was two guys contesting the ball.
“I didn’t see any head high contact.
“I didn’t think Alex had anything to answer for.”
Fox Footy’s panel of experts disagreed with Longmuir’s take on the collision, instead stating they believe Pearce is set for a “three-match holiday”.
“The cues is looking at the heavy shoulder contact to Darcy Byrne-Jones’ head or upper arm,” journalist Jay Clark said.
“The other thing they’ll look at is him leaving the ground. He decides to leave the ground, his eyes sort of go to Darcy Byrne-Jones I think before the contest, so on one hand you can say is that just a general football collision and a bit of an accident? I think because his arm makes such heavy contact with Darcy Byrne-Jones’ head, for consistency sake that’s got to be a three match ban as I see it.”
“I agree,” dual North Melbourne premiership winner David King added.
“These are the ones you have to stamp out unfortunately.
“It’s line ball but he does brace and the brace to me is choosing to bump.
“He jumps, so he knows contact is coming. He has a duty of care to the other player – whether you like it or not, this is the world we now live in.”
Clark said Pearce “doesn’t look like he’s going for the ball”, despite Longmuir’s assertion he was trying to mark it.
“He’s not marking it, he’s not trying to spoil it. He’s trying to take the other bloke out,” Clark said.
“There is no play on the ball in there as I see it.”
Triple-premiership winner Jack Riewoldt agreed Pearce was facing a ban, but felt the Dockers had a case to argue should it come to that later this week.
“Maybe they’ll say that he didn’t brace and caught him accidentally with a trailing arm,” he said.
“It’s such a finite game … you’ve got to factor in the fact it’s wet.
“I don’t think his eyes ever went to Darcy Byrne-Jones as if he was going to make contact.
“He didn’t brace, he caught him with his arm like that (away from the body).”
The moment soured what had otherwise been an impressive night for the Dockers as they racked up their second biggest win of the season – and their biggest win over the Power since 2013.
Speaking after the game, Port coach Ken Hinkley said Byrne-Jones “seems OK” despite the big hit.
“It’s an unfortunate part of the game still – they happen. But we’d rather they didn’t but they do,” he said of the collision.
“Once upon a time they were footy incidents that weren’t such a big issue, but they are now.
“I’m sure Pearcey wouldn’t have meant that, but it will play out with the AFL like it has always done.
“They are split second decisions that slightly go wrong.
“Concussion seems to be – and rightly so, is the overriding factor in it all I think.”
The Match Review will hand down their findings on Sunday afternoon.
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