Suspension Seems Inevitable for Nash, But Is That Enough?

Connor Nash is likely going to be in plenty of trouble after his swinging arm knocked out Geelong Gryan Miers on Easter Monday.  

Mitch Cleary suggesting the impact was careless and severe, and that the only question is "Can he accept three matches, does it go to the tribunal for three or more?"

The incident occurred midway through the third quarter in front of the 88,746 football fans in attendance, leaving Miers concussed.  

Nash was placed on report immediately, however many are calling for a send-off or red card rule admission, to mitigate acts so detrimental to the game's fabric. 

Nash appearing remorseful following the incident with Gryan Miers on Easter Monday

On Fox Footy’s coverage, the commentary team were shocked. 

“There’s a real high one that’s knocked the stuffing out of the Cat on the ground,” Matt Hill said on Fox Footy. 

“It’s Miers.” David King added: “Oh gee. He’s out. He’s out.” 

“He is a man that’s in trouble, big time,” Jason Dunstall added of Nash 

The North Melbourne Champion David King also added “the ramifications for this match are huge and the conversation will begin again about red cards and all sorts of things.”  

The debate was unequivocally sparked on air. AFL immortal Leigh Matthews suggesting that this is the type of moment that calls for a send-off. 

"This is the exact incident, you only see a handful a year, where there should be a send-off rule because Geelong have lost Miers, so they're one man down and of course Nash stays on the field," he said on Fox Footy. 

"It's an evening-the-numbers-up thing for me. Geelong have only got 22 players active and Hawthorn have got 23." 

Every level of grass roots football has a red-card rule, or something along those lines, which calls into question, does the AFL need to introduce their own? 

Fans took to social media as well, showing their support for a send-off rule: 

One took to X saying the “AFL needs to start sending off players like flagrant fouls in the NBA. No way you should be allowed to knock someone unconscious and still be able to play. Ridiculous.” 

Another saying on X “These are the examples where we need a red card. no grey in it. Geelong loses their best score assist and connection piece. Hawks no penalty.” “These are the examples where we need a red card. no grey in it. Geelong loses their best score assist and connection piece. Hawks no penalty.” 

The AFL community has a tremendous discussion on their hands, as for a match review incident to have wins/loss implications, shows the significance of teams losing players to injury from these incidents.  Outlining the fundamental advantage it grants the opposition.  

Jasper Cormick