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Matthew Lloyd admitted he’s “confused” after Brisbane Lions goal sneak Charlie Cameron had his sling tackle ban on Dee Jake Lever downgraded to a fine.
The Lions goal sneak is now free to play against Geelong at the Gabba in their round six clash on Saturday night.
His tackle, which was originally graded as careless conduct, medium impact and high contact, was then downgraded to low impact due to “exceptional and compelling circumstances”.
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Cameron also has a clean record, which the tribunal took into account when downgrading the charge.
Over his 207 games, he has never been slapped with a ban, but has paid five fines, three of them for rough conduct charges, similar to his most recent.
AFL champion Eddie Betts provided a character reference for Cameron.
The Lions also argued that Cameron is smaller than Lever, meaning his impact could be downgraded to low, considering the Demons defender did not require a HIA or miss any game time after the tackle.
The use of character references has confused Lloyd, who says the make up of a player off field has nothing to do with an act they pull off on the football field.
“I think don’t bring in the character reference in,” Lloyd said on Nine’s Footy Classified on Wednesday night.
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“I was comfortable with a week, now I’m really confused.”
As a solution, Jimmy Bartel and Damien Barrett called on the AFL to revamp their match review process.
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“I don’t think there’s ever been as much confusion as ever in what is and isn’t allowed when it comes to the protection of the head,” Barrett said.
Barrett suggested that the league look to close good character loopholes, remove Michael Christian as MRO boss and give the role to someone full-time, as well as scrap the appeals board of the AFL Tribunal.
“The character reference. I was under the impression that character references were not allowed. They were allowed last night under Adrian Anderson’s defence of Charlie Cameron, who was said to have had a good conduct record,” Barrett said.
Cameron has not been rubbed out, but has received five fines for rough conduct charges of the football field.
“That’s not a clean record. There hasn’t been a suspension, but that’s not a clean record,” Barrett added.
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Bartel proposed another way the league can ensure fair punishments are handed out for particular acts, such as the sling tackle.
“It’s easy to look at an incident and go ‘that’s a football act’. The non-football acts we look at a week (suspension) and move our way up. Then a little bit more leniency for the football ones (acts),” Bartel said.
Brisbane will take on Geelong with Cameron in their side at the Gabba on Saturday night.