Let’s red card the idea of introducing a red card system into the AFL before it gets too far.
It would be an over-reaction to a rare incident, albeit an ordinary one.
There is a match review panel and tribunal to deal with incidents like what was seen at Patersons Stadium on Friday night when Richmond’s Ty Vickery struck West Coast’s Dean Cox in the jaw with his forearm.
Eagles coach Adam Simpson appears to be happy with the current set-up.
"It'll deal with itself throughout the week," a furious Simpson said after their 17-point loss to the Tigers, albeit before he knew what the penalty would be. Of course he would have loved to have said more, but "I don't want to cop a fine. There's no point (commenting on the incident),” he rightly said.
"It will take care of itself.”
And Fremantle coach Ross Lyon said that he doesn’t think a change to the rules was required.
“Maybe we can bring the offside rule in as well, and just complete the change,” he said sarcastically.
“The game has never been played in better spirit. The ultimate test of that are grand finals. I haven't seen a blood bath there for a long time.
“So I think - play within the spirit, it's really hard and fair. I can only talk from my own experiences. It wouldn't be an over-reaction would it?”
The last time the AFL over-reacted to an on-the-field incident, a new interchange rule was introduced. Now we can have goals kicked from free kicks because a player stepped the wrong side of a line 50m away, off the field.
Wouldn’t that go down well in a tight grand final?
And wouldn’t an AFL game be ruined if a full team of fit and professional footballers had an advantage of an extra player on the ground?
The game would be ruined for spectators and teammates because of the actions of one player out of 44.
Even just removing that one player from the game and letting him be replaced by a teammate sitting on the bench can impact a result, as rotations are crucial to a team's structure.
Cox couldn’t return to the field because he failed a concussion test, so the Tigers did have an advantage on Friday.
But West Coast did have the chance to get their champion ruckman back on the field, which is something Richmond would not have been able to do if he was shown a red card by the umpire.
As the game gets quicker, more reports are occurring in the post-game review because umpires are concentrating on the action.
The men in green, orange, or white (whatever colour they are wearing this week) don’t need the added distraction of wondering if what they think they saw actually happened and then deciding whether it deserved a dramatic send-off.
