Patrick Cripps has voiced his confusion over why Melbourne’s Steven May is facing the Tribunal following the collision that left Carlton’s Francis Evans concussed.
May is staring at a suspension of at least three matches after his hit on Evans during Saturday night’s narrow eight-point win was graded as careless conduct, high contact and severe impact.
The incident left Evans concussed, with a broken nose and a lost tooth after May’s shoulder collected his head as both players converged on a loose ball.
“What do we want May to do there?”
Speaking on AFL.com.au’s On The Inside vodcast, Cripps defended May’s approach, saying both players simply attacked the contest the way they had been taught since childhood.
“If you take Carlton versus Melbourne out of it, I feel like both of them were trying to contest the ball,” Cripps said. “Obviously, you never want to see a player get injured – obviously, Frankie was courageous in what he did – but I just reckon it's so tough. I don't understand what we want May to do there.
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“If that's a Grand Final and he hesitates, and let's say Frankie gets the ball... what do you do? I never want to see people go off in the game with head knocks, but I just think it's a really tough situation.”
Brisbane’s Lachie Neale backed Cripps’ assessment, highlighting how natural instincts developed over the years can play out poorly in slow-motion replays.
“A lot of times, that is looking like a bump motion, so you can look worse than what it is, especially when you slow everything down so much now,” Neale said. “It's a tough one, but yeah, unfortunately, with concussion a huge topic now, it puts it under the microscope even more.”