Riccardi cools row
Coach extends hand to banned Garrard
BANNOCKBURN coach Peter Riccardi has revealed plans to reach out to Inverleigh star Ryan Garrard after the Hawk’s season-ending suspension.
Stinging in his criticism of Garrard moments after the Tigers bowed out in the preliminary final, Riccardi said he was determined to chat with the Hawk in coming weeks.
Garrard copped a six-match ban for an elbow that broke the jaw of Bannockburn skipper Jack Brauman in the first quarter at Gordon Tafe Oval.
Riccardi was scathing of the incident post-match.
“It’s not what you want to see, but if he (Garrard) plays on next week then it’s a joke, seriously it’s a joke,” he said.
“We’re trying to wipe that stuff from our league, but not only that, he doesn’t get a free kick or anything. I’m fuming, it’s just ridiculous.”
Yesterday Riccardi moved to clarify his comments, claiming he was not attacking Garrard’s integrity.
“I wasn’t questioning his character, it was just the incident I was talking about,” he said.
“People jumped on the bandwagon of me calling him ‘weak as p---’, but I was only referring to the incident. I think it got blown out of proportion because Jack told me as soon as he came off that ‘Rusty’ elbowed him in the face and broke his jaw and six weeks is just deserts, I reckon.”
Asked if he had spoken to Garrard since, Riccardi said: “No, but I wouldn’t mind.
“I’ll let it go for now, I’ll let the dust settle. There’s no way known that I’m attacking his character, it was just the action.
“And I’m not on social media to defend him, and I heard a lot of people were having a crack at him, but I hope it wasn’t from my comments.
“I know he’s the captain of the footy club and he’s respected, but I don’t know him.”
Garrard will miss Saturday’s grand final, having been found guilty at the AFL Barwon tribunal on Tuesday.
He pleaded not guilty to the rough conduct charge, but the tribunal agreed with Brauman’s version of events, that a late elbow caused the injury.
Panel chairman Peter Murrihy described the contact as “extreme”.
The tribunal watched footage that saw Garrard close in on Brauman, who had the ball on the halfback flank.
As Brauman handballed, Garrard jumped to smother it, with contact sending Brauman to the turf.
“A second or two later I got an elbow to the face,” Brauman told the tribunal.
“I went down . . . I’ve done a similar injury before so I pretty much knew straight away (I had broken my jaw).”
When asked if he was sure it was Garrard’s elbow that made contact, he said he had no doubt.
“It dropped me, definitely, but I thought I got up pretty quickly,” he said.
Brauman went to hospital and had surgery on Sunday to insert two plates in his chin and one plate in the right side of his jaw. He also had four screws inserted and the surgeon decided to remove one of his wisdom teeth.
He was discharged from hospital on Monday.
Garrard argued he jumped to smother the ball and, admitting he was late, braced for contact.
He said he believed contact was shoulder on shoulder.
“You don’t believe you hit him in the head at all?” Murrihy said.
Garrard told the tribunal he did not know Brauman was injured until a member of the Bannockburn captain’s family hurled abuse at him at the quarter-time huddle.
He sent Brauman a remorseful text on Saturday night, wishing him the best.
Brauman replied with a message saying the incident was part of the game and added, “Well done on the win”.
Brauman told the tribunal he had not seen the incident at that stage.
“I gave him the benefit of the doubt,” he said.
“Once I saw the video, I started to question that.”