Fremantle Dockers captain Alex Pearce has successfully challenged his three-game suspension for rough conduct at the AFL tribunal, leaving him free to play against Gold Coast on Saturday.
Pearce successfully argued against the classification that his actions were careless when he collided with Port Adelaide player Darcy Byrne-Jones in Saturday night’s 49-point victory at Perth stadium, while not challenging the classifications of severe impact and high contact.
The key defender’s evidence played a key role in the tribunal hearing, with Fremantle’s argument focused on claiming his actions were reasonable in the circumstances, as he was making a realistic attempt to either mark or intercept the ball.
Through defence lawyer Tim Hammond, the Dockers argued that Pearce took the only practical response in the circumstances by trying to impact the contest, suggesting to do otherwise would be against the spirit of the game.
Pearce stressed he was making a genuine attempt to complete a chest mark, as he often does in matches played in wet conditions, with the Dockers pointing to a previous example within the same game of him taking a mark on his chest in defence.
The captain argued he wouldn’t and couldn’t have done anything differently if he had his time again, because as an AFL player and the leader of the club, he had to give 100 per cent effort to make an attempt at the ball and impact the contest.
He said he only realised in the final split-second moment that he wasn’t going to mark the ball and braced and dropped his arms to limit the impact of the impending contact.
Fremantle also argued Pearce’s path directly for the ball never deviated, and his eyes remained focused on the ball, expecting he always had a reasonable prospect of intercepting or marking.
AFL claims duty of care breach
AFL counsel Sally Flynn argued Pearce was always likely to be second to the contest and therefore should have slowed his momentum and pulled out of the marking contest, saying the Fremantle captain had a duty of care to know the location of other players on the field and the potential risks
She argued Pearce breached his duty of care by not slowing his momentum.
Pearce refuted the suggestion he should have known he was going to be beaten to the ball, saying if he pulled out it would not sit well with him, the team or the wider football public.
After about half-an-hour of deliberating, the tribunal cleared Pearce, saying the action did not constitute rough conduct
Coach welcomes decision
Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir told Channel Seven the ruling was welcome news.
“Yeah, great result, we thought we had a good case to argue, and yeah, it’s going to be great to have him out there on the weekend, and lead the team again,” Longmuir said.
“All along, we thought Alex was contesting the ball, we thought at no time did he brace for contact or turn for contact and try and bump Byrne-Jones.
“We thought he was always trying to go for the ball and made a fair play on it.
