ADELAIDE’S in-form forward Darcy Fogarty has failed to overturn a three-game suspension for striking at the Tribunal.
Fogarty remains banned for the Crows’ next three games, starting with Thursday night’s bumper clash against Collingwood at Adelaide Oval.
The sharpshooter was cited for striking Sydney’s Harry Cunningham in Adelaide’s 16-point win last Friday night at the SCG.
Match Review Officer Michael Christian graded Fogarty’s act, which concussed the Swans veteran, as careless conduct, severe impact and high contact.
But at a Tribunal hearing on Monday evening, Fogarty and the Crows disputed his action was a strike, maintaining it was merely a high tackle, adding the impact was high, not severe.
“Initially I thought he (Cunningham) was going to stand up a little bit taller and raise his arms to release the footy,” Fogarty said.
“Once he hit the ground, he drove forward and down a little bit.
“I was just trying to wrap him up and execute the tackle.
“I adjusted as much as I could to get low while he went low. I just tried to get my arms as low as I could.”
But the AFL’s counsel Andrew Woods KC said Fogarty’s right arm was swung in a “roundhouse style”.
“He should have known, and a reasonable player in his position would have known, that swinging an arm in that manner … was going to lead to a forceful, high strike,” Woods said.
After hearing some 45 minutes of evidence, Tribunal chairman Jeff Gleeson KC and panel members Jason Johnson and Darren Gaspar took 20 minutes to deliberate.
The panel was “comfortably satisfied” Fogarty’s action was a strike, Gleeson said.
“Fogarty’s technique of forcefully swinging his arm in the likely direction of his opponent’s head and neck was … careless,” he said.
“Fogarty’s evidence was that he intended to do no more than wrap Cunningham up in a tackle. He could have done so without the unreasonable forceful swing of the right arm.
