THE WORDS of football operations manager Simon Lethlean have loomed over the debate surrounding Tom Hawkins this weekend as Geelong waits nervously on the Match Review Panel's handling of the key forward's jumper punch on Matt Crouch.
Two weeks ago Lethlean put players on notice, saying: "If players are going to take the action of punching a player they do so at their own risk now … we won't tolerate it".
There were no changes to the MRP's guidelines, but a tougher stance on punches was confirmed when Sydney's Zak Jones was fined $1500 for a punch that would have been touch and go before the League's crackdown.
The words of MRP member Jimmy Bartel – Hawkins' premiership teammate in 2009 and 2011 – are also simmering in the background, working against Geelong and its key forward.
"The bar has been lowered as far as force … we are going to be tougher on them," Bartel said on radio last week.
If the bar remains lowered this week, Hawkins has every reason to be nervous.
His jumper punch on Crouch on Friday night would likely have been considered insufficient force pre-crackdown, but not now.
A grading of intentional conduct with low impact and high contact earns him a two-match suspension reduced to one with an early guilty plea. This appears the most likely conclusion for the MRP to come to.
The alternatives are careless conduct with low impact and high contact, earning a $1000 fine, or insufficient force, which would clear Hawkins.
If the MRP does take the harshest possible view and suspends Hawkins for one match, the scene is set for a challenge, bringing the Tribunal into play for the first time since round 13 last year.
Hawkins is adamant he did not intend to strike Crouch high, and coach Chris Scott is strong in his view the key forward should escape suspension for what was "more of a push than anything".
The Cats could go to the Tribunal and attempt to argue down an intentional grading to careless, which has been a common grading for jumper punches in the past, and as recently as round eight when Trent Cotchin was fined $1000 for a more forceful hit.
They could also go to the Tribunal and attempt to argue down a low impact grading to insufficient force.
The Tribunal would not be strictly bound by the AFL's table of offences, like the MRP, and is free to set its own penalty.
If the MRP does not suspend Hawkins, the AFL will need to amend its table of offences to enact the crackdown Lethlean wants.
