AFL pundits have applauded the decision not to suspend Adelaide veteran David Mackay after he was controversially sent straight to the tribunal without charge for a collision with St Kilda's Hunter Clark.
Clark was left with a broken jaw when the defender was flattened by Mackay in a contest for the footy in the first half of the Crows' six-point win against the Saints last week.
Match review officer Michael Christian caused a stir by referring the incident to the tribunal without a charge, but on Thursday night the Crows successfully cleared Mackay following a lengthy defence.
AFL prosecutor Jeff Gleeson argued that Mackay's hit warranted a three-game ban while the Crows used their data and football analyst Chris Sheedy and biomechanics expert Dr Robert Crowther as experts in the defence.
After three hours, the AFL tribunal eventually decided suspension was not necessary with chairman Geoff Giudice concluding, "the conduct was not unreasonable".
The verdict was celebrated around the AFL with any suspension feared to set a worrying precedent in the game.
"I have a great sense of relief for the game that McKay got found not guilty. I can only imagine how he is feeling. Would love to know who Steve Hocking consulted before getting this to the point that it did," AFL legend Matthew Lloyd tweeted.
"The David MacKay decision is a win for AFL footy otherwise it becomes a foreign game to what we all know and love," player agent Liam Pickering said.
Port Adelaide great Warren Tredrea said the charge "threatened the fabric of the game" and after the verdict was announced, argued that Mackay should never have been faced with suspension in the first place.
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Mackay is now free to play for the Crows in their round 15 clash with Carlton.
"I'd like to say that I'm obviously relieved with the outcome of the hearing tonight, and I'd like to thank my legal representative Andrew Culshaw and the Adelaide Footy Club for throwing their support behind me," Mackay said after the tribunal's verdict.
"But all week my thoughts have centred around Hunter [Clark] and his wellbeing.
"It was never my intention to cause any harm, I was only trying to win the ball so I wish him nothing but the best moving forward."
Adelaide Crows' head of football Adam Kelly revealed after the case concluded that Mackay told the club not to appeal had a suspension been the outcome at the AFL tribunal.
"We hadn't fully discussed that and to David's credit, to speak to the character of David, he was encouraging us not to," Kelly said on SEN.
"He felt like there had been a lot of attention on the case this week. His mind went to Hunter and the difficult week that it would have been for him, and the resources the club had put behind his case.
"So that speaks volumes for David, but as a club we hadn't sat down and discussed that."
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