By Andrew Wu
Isaac Heeney’s Brownlow Medal hopes hang in the balance after a high fend that left his opponent with a bloodied nose, capping off a dirty day for Sydney as they suffered a second straight shock loss, this week to St Kilda.
Heeney made contact with St Kilda defender Jimmy Webster’s face as he attempted to break free on the lead in the third quarter of the Saints’ thrilling two-point victory on Sunday.
There did not appear to be much malice in Heeney’s action but a change in the AFL’s tribunal guidelines will ensure the Swans star, a Brownlow favourite for much of the season, has a nervous wait for the findings of the match review officer on Monday.
A suspension would rule Heeney out of the race for football’s most prestigious individual award, and leave the league with the awkward prospect of an asterisk at the top of the leaderboard for much of the count.
Though Webster’s head was lower than where Heeney had expected it to be, Heeney’s arm or hand made contact with the Saint’s face, resulting in a blood nose and preventing his opponent from making a contest.
Twelve months ago, Heeney could have escaped with a fine with a grading of careless, but he is facing a ban of at least one match after the league amended rules in the off-season so that in instances where a player intends to forcefully push or fend an opponent off the ball, the incident shall be graded as intentional rather than careless.
Isaac Heeney faces a nervous wait.Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images
A grading of intentional conduct with low impact would result in a one-match suspension. There is also a possibility the impact could be assessed as medium, resulting in a two-game ban, given Webster was felled, unable to contest the ball and suffered a blood nose from the incident.
“You’re allowed to use your body to make distance with your opponent, but that’s a football act,” Hawthorn champion Dermott Brereton said on Fox Footy. “I know he wasn’t aiming at his head, but he’s made a non-football act, he’s got him in the head. He’s not playing next week.”
Heeney kicked a goal from the mark and minutes later kicked a second after a contentious free kick.
The incident rankled Saints coach Ross Lyon, not because he deemed there to be foul play or ill intent by Heeney, but because of the potential significance the goals could have had on the game.
“Heeney got two interesting ones, didn’t he?” Lyon said. “He certainly didn’t mean to clock Webster but accidentally clips him in the head, he goes down, takes an uncontested mark and then there’s an interesting free kick, he kicks two to put the gap out.
“It’s not even a judgment on that but we didn’t get distracted by it.”
Swans coach John Longmire said he did not see the incident.
Some outlets have suspended Brownlow betting, while others have taken Heeney’s name off their charts.
Heeney’s midfield impact, and that of Chad Warner, was quelled by the Saints’ ferocious pressure, which prevented the Swans from generating the free-flowing play that has been a hallmark of their dominant campaign.
The Saints registered 23 more tackles, ensuring that most of the Swans’ entries inside 50 were dirty and their accuracy was compromised by having to take shots from less threatening parts of the ground.
Lyon said the Saints were drawing inspiration from NRL powerhouse Melbourne Storm, who did not compromise their standards in 2010 despite having premiership points stripped for cheating the salary cap.
Three wins and significant percentage out of the eight with seven games to play, the Saints are unlikely to make the finals.
“After the initial shock they committed, and their leadership wanted full preparation and full review,” Lyon said. “They knew that laid standards for future success.
“We know it’s unlikely and probably impossible to play finals but how we go about it, train, prepare and compete and review, set standards for future success. I think it sits in that category today.”
The Swans remain favourites for the flag and the minor premiership, but their stumbles will have given the chasing pack more hope they can be toppled come September.
Callum Mills and Luke Parker are expected to make eagerly awaited comebacks from injury and suspension respectively next week in the VFL.
“Alarms bells are a bit drastic,” Longmire said.
“We’ve had a pretty reasonable season, you’re going to go through a patch, it’s hard to play at that level for a long time. It’ll give us something to work on, there’s no question about that.”
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