AFL great Kane Cornes has implored the competition to bring in a send-off rule in the wake of Geelong Tom Stewart’s bump on Richmond’s Dion Prestia on Saturday.
With Stewart’s hit knocking out Prestia and in doing so disadvantaging Richmond who lost one of their best players for the rest of the match, Cornes believes the Cats should’ve also paid the price with their gun defender sent off.
As the three-time All-Australian went on to dominate down back for the Cats after the hit in the three-point win, Cornes says the AFL must look at introducing a sin-bin so close results aren’t dictated by similar incidents.
“He should’ve been sent off, let’s be honest about this,” Cornes said on Nine’s Sunday Footy Show.
“There should be a sin-bin in the AFL for serious incidents because that was the difference in the game.
“Richmond lose their most important player by any numbers you want to look at over the last couple of years early in the first quarter.
“Stewart stays on the ground, has 29 disposals, 17 intercepts, puts himself in the right spots at the right time, and had a game-saving intercept late in the game.
“At the end of this round Richmond may be out of the eight on the back of that hit that sent Dion Prestia out and Tom Stewart was allowed to stay on.”
With other sports using different send-offs where a player can be sidelined for a period of the game, Cornes was asked whether Stewart would’ve received a hypothetical red card under his model.
“100 per cent, for serious incidents like that, it may only happen once a year,” Cornes responded.
“But for incidents like (Andrew) Gaff on (Andrew) Brayshaw, Stewart on Prestia, the team can’t be rewarded … the opposition loses their best player, their best player stays on the ground and wins them the game.
“Richmond loses from only that hit, if that doesn’t happen, Richmond wins the game of footy.
“I think the AFL need to look at a video review system for incidents like that.”
While the AFL score review has come under scrutiny for its tendency to stall the game, Cornes believes the competition must introduce a similar system for send-offs to protect the “integrity” of the code.
“You have a video review upstairs, and how long does a goal review take,” Cornes said.
“What’s it worth for the integrity of the competition? You can’t have Richmond penalised like that, lose the game, (potentially) be out of the eight, potentially miss the finals on the back of that one hit.
“I’ve thought about it since the Andrew Gaff incident, it might not even be used once a year.
“For ones like that which are sickening hits that shouldn’t be happening in 2022 with how seriously we’re taking hits to the head (it has to happen).
“I think he gets four (weeks) … I think it’s definitely worth considering for the AFL.”
MRO Michael Christian will decide whether to suspend Stewart or send him directly to the tribunal when his findings are delivered on Sunday evening.
"He should have been sent off."@kanecornes says Tom Stewart's 'sickening' hit, which forced Dion Prestia out of the game, is why the game must bring in a send-off rule. #9AFLSFS | Watch on @Channel9 pic.twitter.com/OfW7CV71bt
— Footy on Nine (@FootyonNine) June 26, 2022