Carlton defender Zac Williams has been handed a one match suspension for engaging in rough conduct in his side's 10-point win over the Adelaide Crows.
Williams was one of eight players charged following their involvement in a fiery third quarter melee between the two teams.
The melee kicked off after Adelaide forward Darcy Fogarty's late hit on Jacob Weitering, as a number of Weitering's teammates remonstrated, sparking a wild brawl.
Blues co-captain Sam Docherty, Jack Martin, Ben Keays, Riley Thilthorpe, Liam Stocker, Ned McHenry and Lachie Plowman were the other players to be charged by the MRO.
During the wild scuffle, vision showed Williams slamming Keays' head into the artificial turf that lines the outside of the boundary line at Marvel Stadium and he was hit with a ban with the MRO assessing the incident as "intentional conduct" with "low impact" and "high contact".
If Carlton chooses not to contest the suspension, it will be Williams' second suspension of the season after he missed Round 1 due to a high hit on an opponent in a pre-season clash.
Despite the MRO being criticised in recent weeks, fans were impressed by the fact that Williams was held responsible for what was a dangerous act.
https://twitter.com/MattWalshMedia/status/1409463485889597442https://twitter.com/NicNegrepontis/status/1409446387272458240
Williams was not the only player to be hit with a suspension from Sunday's matches, with Eagles star Liam Ryan also handed a one-match ban for a high hit on Bulldogs defender Jason Johannisen.
Following the MRO's call on Ryan, West Coast coach Adam Simpson admitted his star man had to alter his technique.
"Liam in the past has been a very good exponent of the hip and shoulder, (but) if you don't get it right, you're more likely going to get weeks," Simpson told Fox Footy's AFL 360.
"He should be tackling in that situation and unfortunately he didn't, so there's another one who was pretty close to giving a free kick away.
"We've spoken about it, we need to address it. This just can't be in the game anymore, it's too risky."
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.