'I was stiff': Port player backs Saint's tackle but Tribunal upholds ban ...

St Kilda forward Jack Higgins’ three-week rough conduct suspension has been upheld at the AFL Tribunal.

Higgins’ dangerous tackle on Port Adelaide’s Aliir Aliir was graded careless conduct, high contact and severe impact as the incident concussed Aliir.

The Saints were unsuccessful making the case Higgins’ actions were not unreasonable, pointing to the heavy influence of Aliir kicking the football mid-tackle on the resulting impact with the ground.

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The Tribunal instead found Higgins did act unreasonably in driving Aliir to the Adelaide Oval turf and did not accept the “exceptional and compelling circumstances” argument around Aliir’s actions.

The evidence of a biomechanist in support of the Saints’ argument was not effective.

Higgins will miss games against North Melbourne, Hawthorn and Fremantle.

The hearing took well over three hours with the Tribunal panel deliberating for over an hour.

The head knock means Aliir will miss this Thursday’s Showdown against crosstown rivals Adelaide.

The Saints argued Higgins was not guilty because it was not rough conduct and his actions were not unreasonable in the circumstance. Should that fail their secondary argument was “exceptional and compelling” circumstances apply given Aliir contributed significantly with his actions.

The medical report said Aliir would miss at least 12 days due to the concussion protocols.

The Saints planned to call biomechanist Dr Helen Bayne to speak in regards to Aliir’s actions, given he was kicking the ball, but the AFL argued there was not sufficient notice in terms of a lack of information given, and objected.

“If it’s simply a description of what’s in the video ... it’s not really an area of expertise and the expert cannot assist the Tribunal,” Nick Pane KC said for the AFL.

Tribunal chair Renee Enbom allowed the evidence to be heard pending submissions on its relevance.

Higgins told the Tribunal Aliir had “burst through a tackle” by a teammate and tried to bring Aliir down by the upper body region.

He said his left arm was pushed down by Aliir and tried to grab what he could, and that his balance was put off due to Aliir’s body weight and momentum.

“I thought he would land on his front,” Higgins said.

“He had it (his right arm) free.

“His movement had a lot of effect on the tackle. I can’t tackle a 95kg man to the ground and all his body weight was coming towards me. Him having his leg up in the air trying to kick the ball (impacted).”

He claimed a Port Adelaide player said “it was a good tackle and I was stiff”.

Pane for the AFL questioned whether Higgins genuinely thought of every possible scenario in the short period of the tackle, or if he only considered them afterwards. Higgins said the former.

Higgins conceded he was pulling Aliir to the ground and had his arm around the back of Aliir, with the AFL arguing the tackling action pulled Aliir across his body and rotated him towards the ground using all his weight, which Higgins denied.

Adrian Anderson for the Saints talked up the resume of Ms Bayne, the biomechanist who works at the WA Institute of Sport, and said her expertise related to evaluating Aliir’s movement.

“What’s clear from the footage I’ve seen in the action of swinging a right leg by the player as he’s being tackled increases his angular momentum,” Bayne said.

She argued the kick made a significant impact on the collision wth the ground, and that the momentum generated by the kick made it harder for Aliir to use his right arm to protect himself.

Bayne said Aliir would have had the “option” to use his right arm to protect himself in his landing if he had not been attempting the kick.

Pane (AFL) asked whether Aliir’s movement to the left was instigated by the tackle, to which Bayne agreed. She also agreed Higgins “contributed to the rotation” of the tackle.

“The onus is on Higgins to execute a safe tackle,” Pane said.

“By pinning Aliir’s arm and rotating him, he placed him in a vulnerable position. It’s foreseeable a player may try to dispose of the ball by kicking and that may alter his balance.”

The Saints’ argument entailed 10 points:

1 - Aliir is taller, bigger, stronger;

2 - Aliir pushes Higgins’ left arm down, there’s nowhere else he can hold;

3 - Aliir’s momentum takes Higgins off-balance;

4 - Aliir’s arms are not pinned;

5 - Higgins expected Aliir would land more to his front;

6 - Aliir kicking motion contributed;

7 - No opponents remonstrate;

8 - No realistic alternative available to Higgins;

9 - Doesn’t fall under any key indicators of a dangerous tackle in guidelines;

10 - Toby Greene’s tackle on Mac Andrew was worse and not even cited;

They then argued the “unusual” tackle in this case made a three-week sanction inappropriate, and under “exceptional and compelling circumstances” if the incident isn’t thrown out it should be downgraded to a two-week ban.

“There will be occasions when it’s unreasonable to apply the sanction the table gives out,” Anderson said.

In response, the AFL said the Greene incident was not relevant given Greene released Andrew’s arms, and that it was rough conduct due to Aliir being in a vulnerable position - because his left arm was “restricted”.

“What made this tackle unreasonable was because he (Higgins) restricted the use of Aliir’s left arm, he restricted Aliir’s ability to protect himself, and rotated Aliir forcefully to the ground,” Pane said.

Pane said it was not relevant that Higgins did not have a realistic alternative, but added Higgins could’ve let go of Aliir’s left arm.

“This is a long way from the type of rare case that should convince the Tribunal it’s exceptional and compelling,” Pane said.

Anderson responded it would be “an error” if the Tribunal made a judgment without the suggestion of a realistic alternative.

He also put forward that Higgins has never been suspended or fined in his 109 AFL games.

Follow our live blog of the Tribunal below!