West Coast Eagles defender Will Schofield will play against the Bulldogs this weekend after successfully appealing a one-match suspension for striking Melbourne midfielder Clayton Oliver.
The appeal occurred at the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday night where Schofield challenged his suspension. The incident occurred during half time at Domain Stadium when Schofield clipped Oliver's chin with his elbow. Oliver fell to the ground and Schofield was reported for the offence. The Match Review Panel assessed the incident as "intentional conduct with low impact to the head" when they took Melbourne's medical report into consideration. The Demons midfielder required no medical attention for his jaw, which worked in Schofield's favour when appealing the sanction. Schofield described the contact as "very slight" and stated that he was surprised that Oliver had fallen to the ground when he was clipped. The defender stated he was relieved that he had the suspension overturned, but that he was surprised that it had gone as far as the Tribunal. "Yeah (I'm) relieved, certainly, I didn't know how that one was going to go, but obviously I'm really happy and satisfied with the decision," Schofield said after the hearing. "I was charged with low (impact) but it was deemed negligible. "I was a little surprise (it needed to go as far as the Tribunal) but like I said I'm really happy with the result. "All I want to do is play (this) week, and I've given myself the opportunity to, I just need to get picked by Simmo now." The original one-match suspension caused uproar from Eagles fans who argued that Schofield had not hit Oliver hard enough to receive such a harsh sanction. Many were also shocked about the suspension because Richmond defender Bachar Houli only received a two-match suspension for striking Carlton forward Jed Lamb, who was knocked out as a result of the hit.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
Archives
September 2018
|