SANFL tribunal loophole could rob Port, Crows of player in finals
SANDOVER Medallist Kane Mitchell could have - probably should have - a new rule named after him.
The Port Adelaide midfielder-forward would have pushed for AFL selection last week as the Power considered its options in attack. Mitchell for Jake Neade would have been an appropriate debate in the match committee room at Alberton last week.
The discussion never began - but it did spark another telephone call to the SANFL to expose a problem that could trap both Port Adelaide and the Crows in an AFL final series.
For context: Mitchell on April 11 accepted a one-match ban from the SANFL match review panel for striking North Adelaide forward Lewis Hender.
In effect, the one-game suspension put Mitchell out of all football for a fortnight - and out of the frame for the AFL selection against Geelong in the Anzac Round at the weekend.
The Port Adelaide Magpies had the SANFL bye on April 15-17 weekend, leaving Mitchell to wait until Sunday - when the Magpies played Central District at Alberton - to satisfy the SANFL judiciary’s demands.
Tough luck from the SANFL program some would say. And they would add, if Mitchell had been disciplined - a point of some concern with many Port Adelaide players today - there would be no issue to debate.
But there is.
Say, for the sake of argument, Crows midfielder Brad Crouch - as he almost did at the weekend - needs to play in the SANFL in the last home-and-away round to test a dodgy hamstring.
He is reported. He cops a one-match ban ... and the Crows SANFL team has not qualified to play in the State league finals.
By the current AFL-SANFL agreement, Crouch is not eligible for any football until he has served his ban in the competition in which he was reported - that is the SANFL. He would be ineligible for any AFL action until some time in April the following year.
The Crows would have to go through a full AFL final series with Crouch sitting in the grandstands - unable to serve his SANFL ban and unable to wear his Adelaide AFL jumper.
And Crouch would miss the start of the next AFL season as the state league competition inevitably starts later the national league. It is an extraordinary penalty - and a blind spot in the AFL-SANFL agreement that needs to be debated and resolved.
This Catch 22 applies to every Crows and Power player who works between the two competitions.
The solution? Does the SANFL allow a special tribunal to have the one-match ban replaced by a fine? Or does it grant an extraordinary permit that has the AFL-listed player cleared to play in the national league until the new SANFL season begins when he would immediately be stood down?
Mitchell has exposed a problem in time for the SANFL and AFL - and the other State leagues around the nation - to debate and resolve before they are put under extreme public pressure in September. The need for the “Mitchell Rule” is pressing.