‘Trying to find excuses’: Ex-curator lashes AFL over Adelaide Oval call; Roos to challenge Archer ban

“It’s fictitious what the AFL are coming up with, and this so-called expert, I know most of the guys in Australia, I still pitch-advise Cricket Australia and I still link to these people, I’d like to know who it is,” Burdett said. “I couldn’t sit back and listen to the bullshit. Loading “If the outfield gets wet, hoo-haa, you’re irrigated anyway. The outfield of Adelaide Oval is designed to take six inches of rain in one hour, 150 millimetres of rain in an hour. We’re never going to get that in Adelaide, but that’s the way they design it.” The decision to bring football back to Adelaide Oval was a contentious one. Burdett was heavily involved in making the case for drop-in pitches as a potential improvement on what had gone before. “The whole idea of doing it is so you can play football one day and cricket the next. That was the selling point,” he said. “With drop-in pitches you get more bums on seats, and there’s no transition period where you waste time to rejuvenate your pitches for cricket, or autumn where you soften them for football season.

“It’s all doable, and the reason the drop-in pitches came to life was so you can use the ground more. Here’s an opportunity to use the ground more and they’re saying no.” Kangaroos to challenge Archer suspension North Melbourne has confirmed they will go to the tribunal to challenge the three-match suspension handed to defender Jackson Archer after his collision with the Western Bulldogs’ Luke Cleary. Luke Cleary was stretchered off the ground at Marvel Stadium. Credit: Getty Images Dogs defender Cleary was knocked out when Archer’s knee made contact with his head in a contest in Saturday night’s match at Marvel Stadium.

Play was stopped and Cleary received medical attention before being taken to hospital. The 23-year-old was back at Whitten Oval in good spirits on Monday but will miss the Bulldogs’ AFL/VFL centenary celebration match against Collingwood on Friday night under concussion protocols. The match review officer graded Archer’s actions as careless conduct, severe impact and high contact, resulting in a three-game suspension. North Melbourne on Monday confirmed they will challenge the penalty at the tribunal.

If it stands, Archer will miss games against Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney. The Roos found moral support from within the Bulldogs camp on Monday, when Bob Murphy – a former club captain who has returned to Whitten Oval in a leadership and cultural capacity this year – said he did not believe Archer should be suspended. “My initial thought was it was just one of those unfortunate accidents,” Murphy said. “We get the luxury of looking at it in slow motion, and it’s whether the tribunal thinks he had another option, and they might deem that he did.

“There’s definitely no malice and it’s one of those ones where you don’t want to see players miss footy for those sort of things, but it may end up that way.” St Kilda great Nick Riewoldt said he would be “really fearful for the game itself” if Archer was banned over the collision. “You can’t legislate accidents out of the game,” Riewoldt said on Triple M. “We don’t want concussions, that point has been made, that’s why players that are now bracing and protecting themselves are getting suspended. “Jackson Archer is lucky not to have a broken leg. It’s a violent collision.

Loading “North has to appeal this decision. I would be sad if he doesn’t get off this.” It will be a busy week for the tribunal, with Hawthorn to challenge defender Jack Scrimshaw’s three-match ban for a high hit on Essendon’s Jordan Ridley, and Richmond fighting Tom Lynch’s one-match suspension for rough conduct on Carlton’s Tom De Koning. Sydney, on the other hand, have accepted Justin McInerney’s three-match ban for the bump that concussed Brisbane’s Brandon Starcevich. AAP

Click here to read article