AFL great Jason Dunstall has spoken out against the decision to uphold Steven May’s three-match ban for rough conduct, labelling the outcome “genuinely disheartening” in a passionate on-air defence of the Melbourne defender.
The Tribunal’s ruling, which followed an incident that left Carlton’s Francis Evans concussed, has sparked debate across the AFL world. Melbourne will now take the case to the AFL Appeals Board next week in an attempt to overturn the suspension.
Speaking on Thursday Night Footy on Fox Footy, Dunstall said the decision sets a confusing standard for how players approach contested situations.
“I don’t think it’s dumb football. I’m not outraged, I’m genuinely disheartened by the decision though,” he said.
“I don’t get how you can sit there and say, ‘you needed to adjust your approach just before the contact’, without saying the same thing to Frankie Evans and saying ‘you needed to do exactly the same thing’.”
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'The onus has to be on both players'
Dunstall argued that both players were going for a 50-50 ball and that neither could have known who would get there first.
“It was only the last bounce of the ball that allowed Evans to get there before May. If it had’ve gone forward instead of sitting up and coming back, then May gets to the ball first,” he said.
“What do you want us to do in that situation? And they’re going, ‘Steven May, you’ve got to be different the way you approach.’ Well why doesn’t the other bloke be a little bit different as well?”
David King and Leigh Montagna echoed parts of Dunstall’s sentiment, with King noting the game has changed in how it assigns duty of care: “We’ve conditioned players to think that the duty of care is on both parties… and we’re seeing fallout like this.”
Montagna added: “If this ruling stands, that players need to approach a 50-50 ball with caution… there is a significant change.”
May will miss this weekend’s game against St Kilda due to concussion. His appeal hearing date is yet to be confirmed.