Melbourne is making a desperate bid to have in-form forward Jacob van Rooyen available for their finals return, tonight at the AFL Tribunal. Live updates below!
van Rooyen was charged with striking after concussing Aliir Aliir with a swinging arm as he attempted to spoil during the second quarter of Round 23’s win over Port Adelaide.
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It was assessed as careless conduct with high contact and severe impact, the latter grading seeing the Match Review Officer hand van Rooyen a three-game ban.
The Demons claimed the act wasn’t careless at all, which would free van Rooyen entirely, and if that failed tried to lower the impact grading, which would see the ban reduced to two weeks.
They attempted to submit evidence from a biomechanist but this was denied by Tribunal chair Jeff Gleeson who said the report was “not sufficiently probative, or really probative at all” due to concerns with its precision.
As it stands van Rooyen will miss Round 24 and the Demons’ first two finals (should they play two).
They are currently 5th on the ladder and in line to host an elimination final at the MCG, where they’ll be favoured to win through to a semi-final.
van Rooyen has kicked a career-best 42 goals playing every game this season, particularly stepping up since veteran Brody Mihocek’s horror injury on King’s Birthday.
His absence would weaken the high-powered Demons attack heading into their unlikely finals return under coach Steven King. The club has still not won a final at the MCG since 2018, despite winning a flag in that period.
Follow live updates from the AFL Tribunal below!
Anais d’Arville represented the Demons with Andrew Woods representing the AFL in front of Tribunal chair Jeff Gleeson and jurors Jason Johnson and Darren Gaspar
Melbourne argued this was incidental contact in a marking contest, and it was not careless conduct (arguing van Rooyen should not be suspended at all), and if that’s unsucessful the impact grading should be downgraded from severe to high (two weeks).
The Power medical report said Aliir was concussed and will miss Round 24.
The Demons sought to add evidence from a biomechanist which the AFL objected to on relevance and usefulness grounds.
