Lance Franklin will not face Melbourne’s reigning prime ministers on Saturday night after the Sydney superstar rejected his one-game ban on a strike.
Franklin received a one-match ban for a kick off the ball against former Richmond captain Trent Cotchin at the SCG last Friday night.
In delivering the verdict, court president Jeff Gleeson said the big 1023-goal strike was “aggressive and forceful.”
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Sydney superstar Lance Franklin will not face Melbourne after refusing to suspend a game. (Fox Footy)
“Mr. Franklin intended to beat Mr. Cotchin,” Gleeson said.
“I was looking at him directly. His response was spontaneous and intentional.”
Franklin and his attorney, Duncan Miller, argued that it was not a strike, unintentional, and that any impact was negligible rather than low.
The AFL party review officer had described the incident as intentional conduct, low impact and high contact.
“I’m tempted to say that this year I could be invited to the Lodges and not the Brownlow,” Miller said of Cotchin in a colorful court hearing.
But AFL attorney Andrew Woods said Franklin’s actions were “blatant” and “cowardly.”
Woods launched his own entertaining line, saying, “It’s AFL, not Fight Club or a combat sport.”
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Franklin and his lawyer tried to reduce the ban to a fine, but Gleeson, after absorbing more than an hour of evidence, turned down the push.
Franklin scored five goals to lead the Swans to a six-point victory over the Tigers, but the four-time medalist Coleman’s brain drain was a cause for concern.
The Swans are in seventh place ahead of the Demons, who have a win over the ladder but lost to Fremantle by 38 points last Saturday afternoon.
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