AFL News 2023: Will Day and Gary Rohan suspensions, slings, Hawthorn, Geelong

An AFL match reviewer made fans blush after sharing his findings about the Easter Monday clash.

Geelong proved too strong against Hawthorn, but two tackles caught Michael Christian’s attention.

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Geelong’s Gary Rohan threw Chankut Jayat to the pitch midway through the second quarter and Hawthorne’s Will Day threw Brad Close to the ground early in the third quarter.

Both incidents were judged by Christian with Rohan being offered a one week ban and Day being offered a two week ban.

Day’s attack was rated as sloppy with a hard punch and heavy contact, Rohan’s attack was rated as average rather than high.

Before we go any further, here are the two tackles in question.

Shortly after the decisions were made, football fans were puzzled by how different suspensions were being offered for the same action.

The AFL is working hard to remove multi-star suspension lines from the game in the 2023 season.

But it was the difference in two-tackle bans that made fans furious at the MRO’s findings.

Former player Will Schofield summed up the feelings of the majority when the penalties were handed down.

“How the hell were those two tackles punished differently? Farce in MCI,” he wrote.

Tim Michell of the Herald Sun wrote, “How can Will Day get double fined for Rohan?”

Great Hawthorn Dermott Brereton was also puzzled as to why Day received a harsher punishment than Rohan.

“He demolishes it, there is no sling. It really looks brutal, the end of it all, but he just throws it straight to the ground,” Brereton said at AFL 360 Fox Footy.

“I don’t think they are meant to hurt the opposition. Second (Day) and people will say, “Oh, Hawthorn and Geelong (rivalry)” I didn’t give a damn (about the teams involved).

“I just thought that with Rohan, he (Jiath) was thrown 270 degrees. Another, he (Close) just went forward. Pulled hard down. There was no sling in it.

“Is it dangerous? Probably yes, so it’s a difficult definition, but I can’t figure out how one is worth two (weeks) – which I thought was less (and one is worth one).”

John Ralph of the Herald Sun spoke about the captures on Monday during a Fox Footy report, calling it a definition of what the AFL is trying to eradicate.

“The Gary Rohan tackle is the absolute textbook definition of a tackle that the AFL is trying to take out of the game,” Ralph said.

“You close your hands, you have a secondary action, and then you slam the opponent to the ground – in which case the ball is gone.

“So the only question the AFL really has to answer is whether Jiat’s head is touching the ground. It’s not immediately obvious from this angle, but I think the secondary angle shows it’s more likely.

“So if Michael Christian can find evidence that his head hit the ground, he’ll do the same thing he did with Luc Pedlar when he suspended him last week.”

Originally published as Will Day and Gary Rohan handed different bans on sling tackle