Geelong star Tom Stewart has been sent directly to the tribunal by the AFL’s match review officer for his “sickening” hit on Richmond’s Dion Prestia.
The clash between Stewart and Prestia was assessed as “careless conduct” with “severe impact and high contact”. Stewart is unable to accept an early plea.
The MRO’s call comes after the league rejected the idea of implementing a send-off rule despite widespread calls from a number of leading pundits.
LIVE UPDATES: Latest news and action from State of Origin II game day
ULTIMATE GUIDE: State of Origin Game II
READ MORE: What time will State of Origin game two actually kick off?
The clash between the pair has reignited calls for a send-off due to the fact that the Tigers were without Prestia, one of their most important midfielders, for the remainder of the contest, while Stewart was allowed to play on and played a vital role in the Cats’ win.
According to The Age, an AFL spokesperson said the introduction of a send-off rule was not on the horizon despite the public outcry following the clash.
Port Adelaide great Kane Cornes was one of the prominent voices campaigning for the introduction of a send-off rule, citing how the incident could have a pivotal impact on the two clubs’ seasons.
“Let’s be blatantly honest about this, Tom Stewart should’ve been sent off for that hit,” he told Nine’s AFL Sunday Footy Show.
“There should be a sin-bin in the AFL for serious incidents like that because that was the difference in the game.
“At the end of this round, Richmond may be outside the eight on the back of that hit that sent Dion Prestia out and Tom Stewart was allowed to stay on.
“What’s it worth for the integrity of the competition? You can’t have Richmond penalised like that, lose a game, be outside the eight and potentially miss the finals because of that one hit.
“For serious incidents like that – and it might only happen once a year – the team can’t be rewarded. The opposition loses their best player and their own best player stays on and wins them the game. I think the AFL has to look at a video review system.”
Despite the protest of Cornes and others, Stewart’s teammate Zach Tuohy denied that the shirtfront was a deliberate act from the All-Australian defender.
“It was an unfortunate accident, clearly not deliberate. You get seconds to make these decisions. When you cover up a point of contact, you run the risk, and we’ll just have to wait and see what happens,” the defender said on the Sunday Footy Show.
“He’s an incredibly harsh judge on himself in almost every way. It’s why he’s been such a great player. He’s also an incredibly high character type of guy. His intention would never be to kind of injure another player, so I think he was pretty upset by it in real-time.
“The problem is when you have a player as physical as ‘Stewie’ – and he is one of the most physical players I think I’ve ever played with – if you get it wrong, or you do mistime it, this is the risk you run.”