Carlton star Jacob Weitering poised to return

Though the tribunal acknowledged Wright’s contrition, it was not enough to warrant a ban less than the minimum of four matches called for by the league for a hit made with severe force that is expected to sideline Cunningham for one to two matches.

“The vision shows high speed and extremely forceful impact,” the tribunal of Jeff Gleeson, KC, David Neitz and Shane Wakelin found after deliberating for about 25 minutes on the sanction.

“Cunningham was immediately and obviously concussed. He was all but motionless on the ground for a considerable period of time. The contact was directly to the head.

“The extent of force fell into the severe category by a considerable margin.”

The tribunal agreed with Essendon’s submission that Wright’s degree of careless was not extreme and “we acknowledge until late in the impending contest Wright had eyes for the ball” but nor was it in the lowest range. Wright did not give evidence at the hearing, which may have hampered Essendon’s case for a lower sentence.

“Wright leapt into the contest yet did not attempt to mark or spoil,” the tribunal found.

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“He did not give evidence and we do not have an explanation as to why he abandoned his obvious original intention to mark.

“It appears there was an element of bracing for contact but as he concedes he had other alternatives.”

The Bombers argued Wright had his eyes on the ball and had intended to mark a “dodgy floater” kick from Sam Durham until very late when Cunningham came into his field of vision as the ball dipped, leaving him with a “momentary split second decision”.

Ben Ihle, KC, for the Bombers, accepted Wright could have thrown out his hands to cushion any impact but told the tribunal if the forward had intended to increase the force of the bump he would not have led with his right shoulder, which he had operated on last year and missed almost three months.

“The contact that is made is not from his shoulder to Cunningham’s head but because of his turn they have front-on body to body contact,” Ihle told the tribunal.

The league, through Nick Pane, KC, said whatever technique Wright had developed to protect his right shoulder did not justify his decision to jump and “cannon” into Cunningham, nor was there any evidence the Bomber had attempted to contest the ball.

“There was never any arms out-stretched, consistent with trying or intending to mark,” Pane said.

“This is more consistent with a decision having been made he was too late to mark and taking a different action.”

St Kilda’s King was suspended over a rough conduct charge against Collingwood’s Finlay Macrae.

The Saints, represented by Adrian Anderson, had argued Brad Hill’s tackle on Macrae contributed to the head-high contact from King, who said he had lowered himself to make shoulder on shoulder contact only for the Magpie to be dragged lower than he had expected.

The panel, of Gleeson, David Neitz and Darren Gaspar, accepted Hill’s tackle had “meaningful causal contribution” to the head-high contact but ruled it was “reasonably foreseeable” this would happen.

“At the point of impact the ball was no more than five metres away,” the tribunal found. “It had only just been disposed of and was reasonably foreseeable Hill would not immediately release the tackle.”

Though Macrae was not injured, the tribunal ruled the impact as medium because of its potential to cause injury.

“It was a volatile situation in which a third party was moving the tackled player,” the tribunal found.

Blues star Weitering available for selection

Jon Pierik

Carlton best and fairest Jacob Weitering has been cleared to return against North Melbourne on Good Friday, but Jack Martin has suffered another soft-tissue setback.

The Blues confirmed on Tuesday that key defender Weitering had recovered from a calf issue, and was available to play his first game of the season.

Weitering is central to the Blues’ premiership plans, and will be a major boost for a team coming off the bye and seeking a third-straight win.

However, clever forward Martin will miss another week, having had a slight hamstring strain at training on Monday. Martin had hoped to return from a knee issue against the Kangaroos. Martin has dealt with several soft-tissue issues, and the Blues will take a cautious approach with him.

Midfield gun Sam Walsh is at least a fortnight away from returning from a back injury. The Blues say he will resume full training next week, having missed the start of the season with a recurrence of a back issue through the pre-season.

He has been on a modified program, but now won’t return until after the gather round in Adelaide in round four.

Walsh’s back issues first surfaced in late 2022, and he had a delayed start to the ’23 season.

Small forward Jesse Motlop (toe) is also available for selection, so, too is defender Caleb Marchbank, having had a viral illness which delayed his start to the season.

Geelong captain Dangerfield to miss two AFL games

AAP

Geelong captain Patrick Dangerfield will be sidelined for two games with a minor hamstring injury.
The 33-year-old was hurt late in the Cats’ win against Adelaide on Friday night.

But scans cleared Dangerfield of any major damage and he is expected to only miss the matches against Hawthorn and the Western Bulldogs.

Geelong coach Chris Scott would not be drawn on Dangerfield’s absence when fronting a media conference for veteran forward Tom Hawkins, who will play his 350th match when the Cats play the Hawks on Easter Monday.

But Cats assistant football boss Brett Johnson revealed that Dangerfield would only be unavailable for the short term.

“We expect Danger to only miss two weeks, so we look forward to getting him back on the park soon,” he said.

Fellow premiership midfielder Tom Atkins was a late withdrawal against the Crows with an adductor issue, but should return against Hawthorn.

“Tom was really close [to playing], he just had a real low-grade adductor injury that we didn’t want to risk,” Johnson said on Monday.

“We expect him to train fully tomorrow and be available to play.”

Forward Gary Rohan (back) is still up to four weeks away from returning, while veteran midfielder Cam Guthrie could miss another six games as he recovers from a quad injury suffered during a pre-season match.

Meanwhile, the Bulldogs confirmed recruit Nick Coffield needs a shoulder reconstruction and will be out for up to 14 weeks.

After arriving from St Kilda during the trade period, Coffield played in the Bulldogs’ opening two games of the season before being injured.

Midfielder Brad Crouch has been added to the Saints’ growing injury list, with the veteran requiring surgery on his knee that he injured in a VFL game last week. He will miss up to eight weeks.

Utility Mason Wood (collarbone) and Fremantle recruit Liam Henry (hamstring) were hurt in the Saints’ impressive win over reigning premiers Collingwood last Thursday night.

Wood, who was also concussed when he hurt his collarbone, will be out for about six games, while Henry could miss up to eight weeks after he was one of St Kilda’s best against the Magpies.

AAP

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