Umpire contact an ‘accident’
GEELONG will argue Tom Hawkins’ contact with umpire Dean Margetts was not deliberate as the Cats sweat on his availability for Sunday’s clash with Collingwood.
Hawkins will face the tribunal tomorrow night after match review officer Michael Christian ruled he made intentional contact with Margetts when he pushed the umpire’s arm away during Friday night’s win over GWS Giants.
If the Cats can convince the tribunal the contact was careless not intentional, Hawkins will likely receive a fine.
Coach Chris Scott was quick to throw his support behind his star forward.
“Contact with umpires is a serious matter and we shouldn’t be flippant about it, but not withstanding what some people would interpret from the vision, I trust Tom implicitly and if he says he didn’t deliberately do it, I believe him,” Scott said.
Assistant coach Matthew Knights said yesterday the Cats would let the tribunal process “take its course”.
“We will have to leave it to the judiciary now. We will see what evolves out of that,” Knights told the Geelong Advertiser.
“Preferably it will work out as a positive for us and he can run out there next Sunday.”
Hawkins said the incident occurred in the heat of the moment.
“In the contest I was obviously late to the ball, paid the free kick and 50m against me,” Hawkins said.
“I thought initially it was an opposition’s hand, so didn’t mean to make any contact with him. I apologised to him after. It was obviously accidental.”
Margetts took issue with Hawkins’ touch straight after it happened, telling him: “Hey, don’t touch me.”
However he did not lay an on-field report.