Stewart cops ban for bump on Prestia

GEELONG’s All-Australian defender Tom Stewart has copped a four-week ban for a bump that floored an “unexpecting and vulnerable” Dion Prestia.

The AFL Tribunal found Stewart’s carelessness in the contact, which left the Richmond midfielder badly concussed, was high and that he’d breached his duty of care by a significant margin.

“The bump was late and occurred well after player Prestia could reasonably have expected to be bumped. He was wide open, exposed and vulnerable,” Tribunal chairman Jeff Gleeson said.

Stewart said he accepted the tribunal’s decision.

“I’m disappointed in my actions and I have to own that as a man. My immediate response was Dion’s wellness and that of his family that have had to experience this,” he said.

“As disappointed and disheartened as I am right now, it’s still not about me, it’s about Dion’s wellbeing and how he is.

“I understand I did the wrong thing and ultimately what I chose to do resulted in somebody getting knocked out. That is not how I play the game, and never has been.

“My actions resulted in a consequence that I never wanted to happen so I had to own that.”

Gleeson said Stewart had sufficient time to see that Prestia had not taken possession

and was not actively involved in the contest.

“He ran past the ball and made a conscious, albeit split second, decision to bump player Prestia at speed.” he said.

“The degree of carelessness was high. He breached his duty of care by a significant margin.

“We accept that player Stewart is genuinely a fair player, that this was out of character and he is genuinely remorseful. We take this into account and give it weight.”

Gleeson said headhigh knocks was a major issue in the AFL and in this case Stewart could have avoided the collision with Prestia.

“AFL football is a highspeed sport in which headhigh knocks are sometimes unavoidable, given what is known about the consequences of blows to the head, all reasonable steps must be taken to prevent avoidable blows to the head,” he said.

‘As Mr Stewart accepts, this was an avoidable head high contact.’

The incident sparked a call for the send-off rule to be introduced into the AFL given Stewart went on to be the hero of Geelong’s three-point victory with Tiger fans fuming given the result may well have been different if Prestia hadn’t been taken out of the game.

Gleeson and panel members Jason Johnson and Paul Williams took just 30 minutes to find Stewart guilty. The Cats reigning best and fairest winner will miss games against North Melbourne, Melbourne, Carlton and Port Adelaide.

Earlier, the AFL pushed for a four-week suspension with the league’s counsel starting the hearing by showing two previous cases involving high bumps including Stewart’s teammate Patrick Dangerfield hit on Adelaide’s Jake Kelly last year which saw him outed for three weeks.

Nick Pane QC used the examples to push for a heavier penalty based on the circumstances which left Prestia badly concussed in the opening quarter of Saturday’s game.

“The bump was delivered at speed after player Stewart had gone past the ball with player Prestia unexpecting and vulnerable to being seriously injured upon such a bump being laid,” Pane said.

“That is a bump, which was delivered with speed where the player was vulnerable and which involved significant head contact, is the very type of action which can cause serious injury.”

Prestia, who reported having headaches afterwards, had a CT scan which cleared him of any facial fractures.