’Not a dirty act’: Coaches defend Heeney

The criteria for Brownlow Medal eligibility needs to be “at least discussed” according to rival AFL coaches in the aftermath of Isaac Heeney’s nightmare suspension.

Sydney is preparing to appeal Heeney’s penalty for making high contact with St Kilda’s Jimmy Webster on Sunday after the one-match ban was upheld at the tribunal.

If unsuccessful, the Swans superstar could become the third player to top the Brownlow count but be denied the medal due to a suspension during the season.

Essendon coach Brad Scott said Heeney’s ban was for an “innocuous incident” and suggested Brownlow eligibility had to be loosened to move with the times.

Scott said he was pleased with Carlton captain and Brownlow medallist Patrick Cripps’ push to put a review on the table at the season’s end.

“There’s always been an element of fairest in the Brownlow. You can win your club best and fairest when you’re suspended but you can’t win the Brownlow. I think we all understand why,” he said on Wednesday.

“But the game has changed significantly where players are in incredibly difficult positions at times and for the right reasons – we protect the head, we protect all these things.

“But for somewhat of an innocuous incident in the scheme of things to rule someone out from Brownlow eligibility I think is harsh and needs to be looked at or at least discussed so everyone can have their view on it.”

Scott said the limited reaction time players now had to avoid incidents they could be suspended for should be taken into account when it came to medal eligibility.

“Whether it was something like an intentional act might rule you out of the Brownlow but not a careless one,” he said.

“Because we’re talking about careless acts that are 0.001-of-a-second decisions, I mean, then they’re not intentional, they’re not, in the old vernacular, ‘dirty acts’.

“Do we feel that Isaac Heeney should be ruled out from Brownlow eligibility for that? My personal view is no. But I think it’s an industry discussion that’s worth having.”

Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin said a rule change should be a “discussion point” for the AFL.

“All the things we evolve in our game, the protection of the head, there are always flow-on effects. This is potentially one of those where it’s at little bit easier these days to get reported and suspended,” Goodwin said.

“Are these things we need to look at in the game?”

Sydney will challenge the AFL tribunal’s decision at an appeals board meeting expected to convene on Thursday night.

The process was how Cripps was able to escape a suspension that would have cost him the 2022 Brownlow Medal.