MOULAMEIN and Nullawil players will have a late start to next season after a number of sanctions were handed down at Wednesday night’s lengthy tribunal hearing following an at times spiteful Golden Rivers Football Netball League senior grand final last weekend.
The penalties offered from grand final day carried a 100 per cent loading under Rule 4.9, with any reportable offence committed during the finals series carrying heavier penalty than throughout the home-and-away season.
Moulamein’s Luke Hull and Nickolas Miller were hardest hit, both players copping six-week bans, ruling both out until round 7 of the next season.
Nullawil full forward Andrew Oberdorfer will also have a late start to 2023 after being handed a four-week sanction.
A spectator has also been banned for two years.
Hull was charged for two separate striking incidents following match review panel reviews. Hull was charged with intentionally striking Nullawil’s Zac Kelly, with the panel grading the incident as intentional conduct, medium impact and high contact. Hull was offered a four-match ban after accepting an early guilty plea.
Hull was charged with a secondary offence stemming from a separate incident, after the panel again charged him with intentionally striking another person under Rule 22.2.2(a). The offence was then graded as intentional conduct, low-medium impact and high contact following the incident involving Nullawil’s Jordan Humphreys. Hull accepted a two-match sanction with an early guilty plea, with the second charge to be served following the completion of the four-week penalty.
Moulamein’s Nickolas Miller will join his teammate on the sidelines for the first six weeks of next season, after being found guilty of engaging in any other act of misconduct or serious misconduct. Miller was charged by the panel at the request of the Central Rivers umpires after he left the interchange bench and engaged in an on-field melee.
The incident was not classifiable under the AFL Tribunal guidelines and was instead referred straight to the independent tribunal, where Miller pleaded guilty to the charges and was handed a six-week penalty to be served in the early rounds of next season.
Oberdorfer will be unavailable until after round 4 next season. Oberdorfer was charged with intentionally striking Moulamein’s Daniel Aarsman, with the panel grading the incident as intentional conduct, medium impact and high contact. Oberdorfer accepted a four-match ban with an early guilty plea, which he accepted, ruling him out until round 5 next season.
The Swans will also need to find a new runner for the first four weeks of next season, after being charged with behaving in an abusive, insulting, threatening or obscene manner towards or in relation to an umpire. Runner Evans was referred directly to the independent tribunal, where he pleaded guilty to the charges and was handed a four-match sanction.
A Moulamein supporter will be unable to attend Central Rivers League games for two years following an incident in the last quarter of the grand final, when the spectator entered the playing arena and physically involved himself with Nullawil’s Cameron Streeter.
The spectator was charged with engaging in any other act of misconduct or serious misconduct and was referred directly to the independent tribunal, where he pleaded guilty and was handed a two-year ban. The spectator will be eligible to return from the beginning of the 2025 season.
