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📻 IMPORTANT AUCKLAND UPDATE 📻
“No chance”: AFL and Lions legends stand firm on Tribunal's “clear-cut case”
Jaiden Sciberras • April 1st, 2025 2:06 pm
As tonight's Tribunal approaches, opinions are flaring over whether Richmond's Rhyan Mansell will succeed in having his suspension dismissed.
Mansell was handed a three-week sanction for a push on St Kilda defender Liam O’Connell, leaving him concussed after colliding with an oncoming Tom Lynch.
Lions’ veteran Dayne Zorko has weighed in on the ongoing debate, stating that the ban will set a precedent, allowing players to begin to adapt to avoiding the shoving action.
“It’s becoming a problem,” Zorko told SENQ Breakfast.
“I think, you know, Rhyan’s the unfortunate one here that’s going to spend time on the sidelines.
"But one thing players will do really, really quickly now is adjust to that. I can’t see this being a problem for us going forward now.
“There’s been a precedent set, the AFL have come out, could they have come out when the first incident happened with Reuben Ginbey and Sam Lalor back in the preseason?
“Potentially, but there have been significant cases over the last three weeks of our season that suggest that something needs to be done, and now we’ve been educated on it.”
Regarding Mansell’s impending challenge at the Tribunal, Zorko believes the AFL will uphold the three-week ban.
“Unfortunately for Rhyan, I think he’s going to go to the Tribunal tonight and fight the three-match ban,” Zorko continued.
“But there is a precedent there now that id you are going to do this action and cause harm to your opponent, then there is going to be a timeline served on the sidelines.
“We have had plenty of rules come in, in seasons gone by and players have adjusted really quickly to it. I think this will be no different.”
AFL legend Luke Hodge also weighed in on the incident, sharing his former teammate's view that Mansell will be unsuccessful in his challenge.
“There’s no chance of him getting off this,” Hodge told SEN’s Whateley.
“You look through and we’ve had a few incidents this year. My part where Mansell will struggle to get off this is that he wasn’t competing for the ball.
“The other contests that we’ve had, someone has been pushing because they are going to try and take a contested mark and push someone in.
“You could argue that they are just bodying one on one to take the mark. He is not trying to take the mark. His last view before he pushed O’Connell into Lynch was, he was watching that contest coming, he knew the contest was going to be there, he stopped to be front and square.
“Midfielders always used to push their mids into their ruck to lose touch and feel of them and then you’d get space, but in a marking contest like this, from how they warn clubs that any act like this where you are putting the duty of care of another player at risk, they are going to suspend you.
“I think players are going to start to change their way because this is a clear-cut case, I don’t think this is gong to last long at all because of his last action.
“He is not competing for the ball; he has pushed O’Connell into the contest so that he could make space, and he has come out with a concussion, so I think that’s a clear-cut case for the Tribunal.”
The Tribunal will take place later tonight, with plenty of adjustment set to occur as a flow-on from the decision.
