Fyfe is free and clear
FREMANTLE superstar Nat Fyfe is still in the running to win a second Brownlow Medal after he was cleared over two incidents in his side’s AFL win over St Kilda.
North Melbourne’s Jack Ziebell wasn’t so lucky, the skipper offered a one-match ban by match review officer ( MRO) Michael Christian for kneeing Richmond’s Reece Conca.
Carlton brothers Ed and Charlie Curnow also fell foul of the MRO, with both referred directly to the tribunal after they were found to have made intentional contact with an umpire.
The Curnow brothers will answer their charges at a hear- ing tonight. Their incidents occurred just a week after Geelong star Tom Hawkins’ well-publicised umpire contact case and a day after Gold Coast co-captain Steven May was charged and subsequently fined for the same offence.
Contact was only consid- ered light in both cases, but if it is deemed intentional it is always a direct referral to the tribunal.
“Looking at all of the video evidence it was clear in both cases that it was intentional contact,” Mr Christian said.
“Under the guidelines that is directly referred to the tribunal. I think we’ve just got to be really vigilant ... particularly in stop play situations the rules say that you cannot make contact with an umpire. I think the message is pretty clear.”
The match-day report made on North’s Luke McDonald for rough conduct on Kane Lambert was thrown out.