Essendon president Lindsay Tanner is disappointed that a subtle tweak of interpretation has meant his side will be without Dylan Shiel for two weeks.
Shiel fronted the tribunal for over two hours on Tuesday night attempting to get a two-week ban for a bump on North Melbourne’s Curtis Taylor downgraded to one.
The verdict went against the star midfielder, despite the Kangaroos’ medical report clearing Taylor of damage to the cheekbone.
Usually, the damage caused by a player heavily weighs into the punishment handed down by the Tribunal and with the Bombers attempting to downgrade the charge from high impact to medium impact, many expected that North Melbourne’s injury report would work in Shiel’s favour – it did not.
Tanner said it was “very disappointing”, but hopes this has now set a precedent for how all future cases will be judged.
“I just hope that there’s some consistency across the journey,” he told SEN’s Whateley.
“It would have been nice to know in advance that the standard was going to be changed, but these things happen you just get on with it.
“I do (feel for him). Dylan Shiel is a scrupulously fair player.
“It’s one of those ones where you accept that some penalty is reasonable, the debate is really about the extent of the penalty.
“We’ve been accustomed over the last year or two to the idea that the actual outcome influences the penalty.
“That now appears to be subtly changing so inevitably players and coaches will have to adapt.”
Tanner holistically has no issue with the change, stating that the league is rightly taking concussion issues seriously.
“There’s no question that the concussion issue is very serious and the idea of essentially protecting the head by imposing a responsibility on players in the tackling process or in the bumping process not to cause injury to other players’ heads. I think that’s perfectly legitimate and reasonable,” he said.
Shiel will be unavailable for Essendon’s clashes with the Western Bulldogs and Adelaide.