AFL greats Matthew Lloyd and Nathan Brown disagree over the punishment the tribunal should hand down to Eric Hipwood, after the Brisbane forward pushed an opponent into an umpire.
Hipwood is set to face the tribunal after a push on defender Ryan Gardner resulted in the Western Bulldogs defender crashing into umpire Jacob Mollison.
The whistleblower was knocked off his feet in the Thursday night match between the Lions and Bulldogs, and Hipwood ran inside 50 to take a comfortable mark and slot a goal.
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Brown called for a suspension to be dealt to Hipwood, who’s not able to accept an early guilty plea.
“I think we’ve been strong trying to stamp out any sort of contact with the umpire,” Brown said on Nine’s The Sunday Footy Show.
“I can see what Eric Hipwood’s trying to do there. He’s not trying to upend the umpire; he’s trying to use the umpire as a screen. He’s obviously trying to push his player, not into the umpire, but to the left, so he can get some separation.
“But I think once you do that and you decide to maybe use the umpire as a screen, you’ve got a duty of care that if he then, like when you bump and you choose to bump and you hit the head, like if you hit the umpire with a screen like that … I can’t see it being a fine. If someone makes contact because you’ve pushed somebody, it almost has to be a week; it can’t be a fine.
“I think the AFL needs to be strong on it.”
Lloyd argued against a ban.
“He may say, though, he didn’t even know the umpire was there. It goes on all the time,” Lloyd said.
“So I think it might be more a stern warning.
“You’re always pushing and shoving as a forward and a back trying to make position.
“I think there might be a stern warning from the AFL. He’s away with it this time, Eric Hipwood, but there won’t be an allowance again.”
Fremantle skipper Nat Fyfe avoided a ban for making contact with an umpire during the Dockers’ loss to the Blues last week.
GWS superstar Toby Greene was slapped with a six-game suspension for bumping an umpire during the Giants’ win against the Swans in a 2021 elimination final.
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