Suns go easy despite Brown’s serial trouble

THE Suns are adamant serial offender Campbell Brown needs no reminder of the fine line he will need to tread on field for the rest of his career.

Brown (pictured) will miss the first quarter of next season after yesterday accepting a sixweek ban for his front-on bump on Crows player Aiden Riley during the final clash of the season.

But Suns general manager of football Marcus Ashcroft said Brown’s style of play was unlikely to be a major issue in this week’s end-of-season review.

Ashcroft confirmed the Suns considered challenging the match review panel’s decision to grade the incident a level four forceful contact charge after assessing it as reckless conduct, high impact and high contact.

Brown’s poor record lifted the loading by 50 per cent, leaving him facing an eightweek ban if he unsuccessfully challenged the charge.

‘‘We thought it would be in his best interest to accept the early plea,’’ Ashcroft said.

Ashcroft admitted the ban was disappointing for both the Suns and Brown but dismissed talk the firebrand could be counselled during his review.

‘‘We love the way Campbell plays and we’re not going to change it,’’ Ashcroft said.

‘‘Unfortunately, there is a line that he crossed this time and made the wrong choice at the wrong time.

‘‘He knows himself that at the point in time when the opposition player has his head down at the ball he needs to be careful and he wasn’t.

‘‘But we won’t discuss that much at all because he knows the rules . . . and he won’t need it pointed out.’’

The ban comes as a blow to the Suns though, who struggled for much of the year without senior player Nathan Bock (broken leg) available.

‘‘We’d like to have most of our senior players out there each week to contribute, that’s a disappointing aspect for the first quarter of next season,’’ Ashcroft said.

He confirmed that Bock was expected to be available for round 1 after starting to run in the off-season.