Patrick Cripps is free to play in the final two rounds of the home-and-away season after the AFL Appeals Board overturned his two-match ban in a four-and-a-half hour hearing.
The Blues’ legal representative argued the AFL Tribunal that upheld Cripps’ ban was not given proper directions and could not have reasonably found Cripps to have bumped opponent Callum Ah Chee while still labeling the incident a contest where both players had eyes for the ball.
After a lengthy hearing and deliberation process, the Appeals Board ultimately overturned the Tribunal’s decision.
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Key to the Appeals Board’s decision was “the failure to afford procedural fairness” by the Tribunal, which amounted to an “error of law”.
Further, the Appeals Board was not able to see how the Tribunal could’ve arrived at the conclusion Cripps’ actions were “in the bumping of an opponent”.
The Appeals Board dubbed the Tribunal’s decision unreasonable.
It means Cripps will now be free to play in crunch games against Melbourne and Collingwood as the Blues look to cement a spot in their first finals series since 2013.
A full recap of the hearing is in the blog below.
Can’t see the blog? Lose here.
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