Patrick Cripps’ home and away season is over after the Blues star failed to have his two-game ban overturned at the AFL Tribunal.
Cripps’ legal team argued his bump on Brisbane Lions player Callum Ah Chee was nothing more than a “football act”, but the AFL wasn’t having it.
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The Blues used Willie Rioli’s hit on Matt Rowell from earlier in the season as the example as to why the star shouldn’t be sanctioned.
Rioli left the ground and bumped into Rowell.
“My eyes are purely fixed on the ball,” Cripps said.
“I’m trying to turn and protect the drop zone of the ball, I’ve got my arms outstretched. The ball is there to be won.
“No way I can answer that ball without a collision being there
“In the heat of battle when the ball’s there to be won, I’m going to try and take possession of the ball.”
AFL counsel Nicholas Pane however argued that Cripps elected to bump and because of that decision, he was responsible for the outcome.
Cripps’ lawyer pleaded with the jury to let the star Blue off as it was simply just two players contesting the footy.
“This was a very even contest with milliseconds in it,” Cripps’ lawyer Peter O’Farrell said.
“The consequences of impact do not determine the reasonableness of an action.
“Concussion is a serious issue in sport, but it’s not to be explained away by blaming players all the time.
“On occasion there will be injury. Players can and do get hurt.”
A long kick down the line from Adam Cerra was punched high into the air by Brisbane’s Daniel Rich and Lions teammate Callum Ah Chee camped himself underneath it.
As the ball came down, Cripps came in at a hundred miles an hour and launched off the deck and flattened Ah Chee with a nasty hip and shoulder.
The impact of the hit left Ah Chee flat on the Gabba surface as several Lions teammates remonstrated with Cripps.
Medical staff rushed to Ah Chee’s side and he remained hunched over on his hands and knees before he was able to get back to his feet and under his own power make his way off the ground.
Ah Chee was subbed out of the game. Cripps was sixth favorite for the 2022 Brownlow Medal on TAB markets heading into the game.
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