‘Happy but disappointed’ Griffiths handed a two-match ban

EAST Geelong spearhead Bobby Griffiths will miss matches against Inverleigh and Corio after being rubbed out at the AFL Barwon tribunal on Tuesday night.

Griffiths pleaded guilty to a charge of carelessly striking Thomson’s Daniel Freeman, who suffered headaches and was forced to miss work and GDFL interleague training after an elbow to his head.

Freeman was left dazed on the ground in the wake of the third-quarter incident at Godfrey St Oval on Sunday.

Griffiths claimed he did not intentionally strike Freeman to the head and the tribunal, chaired by Werner Weigl, regarded the contact as careless and suspended him for two weeks. With an interleague bye coming up, Griffiths won’t play for three weeks.

Speaking after the marathon hearing, Griffiths said he was disappointed with the result, despite the charge being downgraded from intentional.

“I’m happy but disappointed at the same time,” Griffiths said. “If I was trying to strike him, it would have been a lot worse than it was. It could have been worse, it could have been better.”

Reported by umpire Caleb McGrath, Griffiths was charged with rough conduct but it was immediately upgraded to intentional striking at the start of the hearing.

McGrath said the Freeman attempted to put a block on Griffiths as a Thomson player kicked a goal.

“As they went to bump each other, Bobby raised his arm and collected him to the jaw with a right elbow,” McGrath explained.

Both players were running at speed, according to McGrath, who remained steadfast that Griffiths had only one thing in mind.

“His intention was to hit him in the head with an elbow,” McGrath said.

Under cross examination from tribunal member Ron Drew, who asked McGrath if Griffiths was attempting to protect himself, McGrath replied: “No, he raised his elbow”.

Freeman told the tribunal he was running to lay a block for a teammate when he copped the hit from Griffiths.

“I thought it was a high shoulder (bump) at first,” Freeman said.

“I didn’t realise until after I saw the photographs that it was a bit higher than that.

“I was a bit dizzy. I was going pretty quick, he was going pretty quick as well.”

Freeman did not return to the ground after leaving in the hands of the trainers. He was ill the following day and subsequently did not go to work.

Griffiths claimed he slowed down after “giving up the chase” for the ball carrier and braced for contact, believing Freeman was set to bump him.

“At the last split second I see Dan in the corner of my eye and he’s got his arm out,” Griffiths said.

“He’s lowered his legs, crouched down and put his arm out. I’ve panicked, instinctively reacted and lifted my arms. If he hasn’t jumped at me with a raised arm ...

“My arm slipped on his arm and I got him in the jaw. It was my left arm, not my right arm. I got him high, I’m not saying I didn’t, but he came at me.”