Caminiti banned, Merrett and Adams suspensions upheld

Anna Harrington | April 18, 2023

Collingwood’s Taylor Adams and Essendon’s Zach Merrett will miss the Anzac Day blockbuster after failing to overturn suspensions at the tribunal.

But there was some good news for St Kilda’s Anthony Caminiti, who successfully proved his off-the-ball hit that concussed Collingwood’s Nathan Murphy was careless not intentional and received a three-match ban.

Essendon skipper Merrett and Collingwood vice-captain Adams challenged one-match rough conduct bans for dangerous tackles hoping to be free for the clash between the second-placed Magpies and third-placed Bombers.

Their tackles were considered careless conduct, medium impact and high contact but they unsuccessfully attempted to downgrade their charges to low impact.

Adams was the third man in after teammates Beau McCreery and Tom Mitchell had already tackled St Kilda’s Seb Ross, slinging the midfielder to the ground.

AFL counsel Nick Pane argued Adams’ introduction made the tackle dangerous.

The Magpie got on the front foot with an aggressive defence, adamant the momentum of his teammates contributed to the tackle’s force and that he had done what he could to protect Ross.

“I think it (the force) would’ve been reduced if those two boys weren’t involved,” Adams said.

Panel chair Jeff Gleeson admitted the “gang tackle” was a “novel” affair for the tribunal.

On a marathon tribunal night that stretched beyond five hours, Adams’ hearing alone lasted for 90 minutes, before the tribunal panel deliberated for just under half an hour.

The panel agreed there was no momentum until Adams entered the tackle and provided the force that brought Ross to ground, creating potential for a concussive incident.

Earlier, Caminiti successfully proved his off-the-ball hit that concussed Murphy was careless, not intentional.

Vision showed Murphy pushing Caminiti in the chest/neck region and the St Kilda forward responding with a high raised forearm that felled his opponent. 

The AFL had pushed for a five-game ban if Caminiti’s original striking charge, considered intentional conduct, severe impact and high contact, was upheld.

The league also wanted a four-match ban if the charge was downgraded to careless conduct, while St Kilda pushed for four if intentional and three if careless.

After 42 minutes of deliberation, the tribunal panel sided with St Kilda, accepting Murphy lowering his body contributed to the high hit and that the incident wasn’t fully off the ball.

Caminiti was adamant he wasn’t retaliating to Murphy’s earlier shove and said he was anticipating a marking contest and attempting to push the defender away to “create separation”.

He reached out to Murphy, who will miss the Anzac Day match, after the game to apologise while St Kilda tried and failed to include a text from the defender, indicating he had slipped prior to the contact, as evidence.

St Kilda immediately accepted the three-match ban and expected 19-year-old Caminiti, who has only played five games, to learn from the experience.

First, after 27 minutes of deliberation, the panel upheld the grading of Merrett’s tackle on Melbourne’s Tom Sparrow.

Merrett agreed he had grabbed Sparrow’s jumper neckline with his right hand but said he slipped and was adamant he used his left arm, at the hip, to drag the Demon onto himself.

The Bombers also argued Sparrow contributed to the impact by attempting to break the tackle.

The panel determined Merrett should have realised Sparrow was vulnerable and the potential for injury, via his head hitting the ground, made it a dangerous tackle and medium impact.