Buddy under scrutiny for elbow to rival's jaw
Swans star Lance Franklin could find himself on the AFL sidelines again after coming under scrutiny for an elbow to the jaw of Fremantle’s Joel Hamling.
The Match Review Officer (MRO) will have a tricky decision to make over the incident that saw Hamling leave the Sydney Cricket Ground with concussion on Saturday night.
Buddy was attempting to break free from a tackle as he swung his arms in the air with the ball in his grasp.
In doing so, the Swans sharpshooter’s elbow collected Hamling flush on the jaw, leaving the Dockers man bloodied and dazed as he was helped from the ground before halftime.
To potentially make matters worse for Franklin, the Freo man was eventually ruled out for the remainder of the game with concussion after briefly coming back on.
AFL great Adam Cooney said on Seven’s AFL Game Day he thinks Buddy deserves to escape sanction over the incident.
“I think he’ll be fine with this one,” Cooney said.
“The left arm comes over the top but it’s purely just to try and get some space and get the ball free.
“It’s in the act of him trying to win the ball, there’s no intent to hurt Joel Hamling and I think he’s fine.
“No trouble for me.”
However, former Sydney coach Paul Roos said it would be a tough one for the MRO to adjudicate on.
“It’s sort of the swinging elbow, I don’t know, I don’t think there’s a precedent for that one so I’ll be really, really interested to see (what the MRO makes of it),” Roos said on Fox Footy.
“Obviously Hamling went off the ground, he did come back on, he got a nice crack in the jaw with an elbow. So look to be perfectly frank, I don’t know how they’re gonna assess that.”
Former Adelaide star Mark Ricciuto agreed that it could go either way for Franklin
“He does bring his left elbow around to try and shrug the tackle and he might be able to say he was just trying to use his big frame to get around it but he clearly does hit in the head with an elbow,” Ricciuto said.
“So he gets cited I would presume.”
Franklin booted three goals to become only the second player to kick 300 majors for two VFL-AFL clubs after Tony Lockett, the Swans’ spoils were shared among their less experienced forwards, four of whom are aged between 18 and 21.
Swans coach John Longmire praised his young forwards, who he says are evolving quicker than the rest of the in-form side.
Their bevy of fresh-faced forwards combined with Franklin to pose plenty of problems for Fremantle’s defence in the Swans’ 59-point win over the Dockers.
Eighteen-year-old Tom McCartin kicked two goals – along with Tom Papley (21) – while Will Hayward (19) and Ben Ronke (20) each contributed one in the 17.9 (111) to 7.10 (52) victory.
Ronke’s goal was his first at the SCG after nine on the road as both he and McCartin played alongside Franklin for the first time.
“We’ve had a bit of a makeshift forward group there so far as normal structure,” Longmire said.
“We know that our small forwards are not going to come out and kick seven every week, so you need to keep evolving your football and your structure.
“We’re trying to do that, trying to evolve what our team looks like all over the ground and that front half is probably evolving quicker than most parts of the ground for us.”
While McCartin only nabbed two marks on Saturday, the 192cm younger brother of St Kilda’s Paddy McCartin gave Freo another tall target to defend apart from Franklin.
“He just contests hard and brings the ball to ground and he kicked a couple of goals which was fantastic,” Longmire said.
“He was able to bring some of those small forwards into play with Papley and Ronke, just by competing and bringing the ball to the deck.
“Thats an important part for a kid who was the youngest in the draft last year and playing just his second game of league footy.
“We’re just keeping it simple for him and he’s doing a good job with it.
“He’ll start taking some of those marks as he develops. But at the very minimum he’s not getting outmarked too often.”
With AAP