Rioli faces bum-tap charge
ADAM Simpson says he hopes Willie Rioli’s umpire contact yesterday is kept in perspective after the Eagles stretched their remarkable win streak to nine games.
The Eagles finally ran over Hawthorn in a tight Etihad Stadium contest, their first win over the Hawks in Melbourne since 2006. West Coast should go to the bye at 10-1, facing lowly St Kilda at Optus Stadium next week before their Round 12 bye.
Rioli will likely face a misconduct fine for dropping his knees into Blake Hardwick in an incident that could be seen as intentional, to the body and low impact. Umpire Ray Chamberlain then raced in to award a 50m penalty after Hardwick’s mark and as he ran back Rioli ran over and tapped him on the bottom.
In previous years it might have been ignored as a reportable incident but given the current climate and Ed Curnow’s recent suspension he could be up for sanction.
The most likely outcome would be intentional umpire contact, but given the lack of intent it would likely be a fine rather than a suspension.
“We want to respect the umps and make sure that touching them is a nogo zone,” Simpson said.
“But there is a human element as well. Let’s hope it doesn’t go any further than that.
“In the environment we are in now, it’s probably not the right thing to do. Having said that they are human and we want to make sure we engage the umpires on a positive note.”
Rioli might end up with a pair of fines rather than missing next week, the young star again exciting with two goals and a hand in several more.
Simpson was thrilled with the scrappy win, with the club’s leaders and Nic Naitanui noticeably lifting in the final quarter.
Luke Shuey is 50-50 to recover from a hamstring injury, Simpson keen to play him if fit so he does not miss five or six weeks given the upcoming bye. Hawthorn brought in Jon Ceglar as a late inclusion despite knowing on Friday that James Cousins would not come up from concussion.
AFL football operations manager Steve Hocking suggested yesterday at year’s end he might force clubs to be more transparent with their injury status. Simpson said he would be happy with that change, especially if the late change is clearly strategic.
“It is happening a lot. I think almost every second week there is a strategic change late that has nothing to do with injury,’’ he said.
“If that option is available we should definitely look at it. Personally I think if its an injury you should declare that.”
He joined calls to clarify the goal review system, although Jack Gunston’s goal on quarter time was correctly overturned.