North Melbourne’s Tristan Xerri has accepted a three-match ban for wiping blood from Essendon captain Andrew McGrath’s face – behavior the AFL tribunal described as “disgraceful”.
Tribunal chairman Jeff Gleeson KC strongly criticized Xerri’s actions and said “the blood could easily have come into contact with McGrath’s mouth”.
A contrite Xerri led the court on Monday night, and immediately pleaded guilty to a charge of gross misconduct.
AFL lawyer Andrew Woods, SC, called for a three-match ban, while North Melbourne player Justin Graham, KC, said a two-match ban was appropriate.
Xerri had called McGrath on Sunday to apologise, with McGrath accepting the apology, while Xerri – a member of the Kangaroos’ leadership group – also apologized to his club.
After deliberating for about 30 minutes, Gleeson ruled that Xerri had been guilty of “disgraceful conduct” and would miss the games against Carlton, Brisbane and Richmond.
“The things we have considered are as follows, the deliberate act of wiping blood from the nose onto the face of another player is disgraceful behaviour,” Gleeson said.
“Xerri’s hand was very close to McGrath’s open mouth. In an environment where many players were pushing and shoving each other, blood could have easily touched McGrath’s mouth.”
Gleeson said the incident was met with a serious charge of misconduct, but praised Xerri for her “compelling, candid and remorseful testimony” which could save her from a lengthy sentence.
Xerri’s moment of madness came minutes after he awarded a 100m penalty for arguing with the referee over a free kick infringement and was quick to give the ball back to Lachlan Blakiston. He was then knocked down after being pushed by McGrath and hit the oncoming Archie Roberts, leaving him with a bloody nose.
The things we have considered are as follows, the intentional act of wiping blood from the nose to the face of another player is a disgraceful behavior… Xerri’s hand was very close to McGrath’s open mouth. In an environment where so many players were pushing and shoving each other, blood could have easily touched McGrath’s mouth.”
– Jeff Gleeson KC
In the middle of the play, Xerri was left unguarded at the North 50 forward as he recovered from the hit. He marked and scored from a Bombers turnover, and it was from pushing and shoving after this goal that Xerri made contact with McGrath.
Xerri said his emotions ran high after he was insulted and called a “flopper” by the Bombers while setting up a goal.
He claimed he was called a “weak word…” to fly.
“I was being accused of typing, the c word…, obviously the next situation came up, which I fully own. What I did was wrong, and I apologize for that,” he said.
“I had a brain. It was not my intention to put blood on his face. I did what I did, I know what I did, I could have done better.”
Xerri said there were 100 incidents in the games that were hot “but that’s no excuse for what I did”.
“I’m very sorry,” he said.
“I thought about it the night of the game. I got there and called Andy. To Andy’s credit, he took it well.”
Gleeson said one reason the blood law was introduced was to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. When told about this, Xerri replied: “I actually talked to my doctor earlier today, and he educated me about it and about sports drinks,” Xerri said.
Woods said Xerri brought the game into disrepute.
“The AFL’s position is that the tribunal should decide on a three-match ban and that would be appropriate for this type of conduct,” Woods said.
“The AFL’s position is that this conduct easily meets the definition of serious misconduct. It is more serious than simple misconduct, and there are two types of misconduct.
“This is a deliberate act. It’s something the player chose to do. He chose to wipe his hand on McGrath’s face, rather than say, wipe it on maybe his own jersey, or even McGrath’s jersey or something like that.”
Woods said Xerri’s actions set a bad example for young people.
“It’s a family-friendly sport. It has a dedicated audience, from young children to seniors. And, on the weekends, our ovals are full of kids playing footy, and they watch and love to watch a high level of footy being played,” Woods said.
Graham said Xerri “had no intention” of harming McGrath, and the two-game suspension was imposed.
“He (McGrath) was not sent off the field, so his play was not interrupted. But, more importantly, the medical report, the form 31 that has been submitted by his club confirms that there was no further investigation required in relation to the matter, and no treatment is ongoing,” Graham said.
Graham cited previous cases of players wiping blood on an opponent.
He said Collingwood captain Nathan Buckley was given a one-match ban for wiping blood on Geelong tagger Cameron Ling’s jumper in 2002.
He also referred to the Jeremy Howe incident in 2012 when the then Melbourne player wiped blood from a graze on his knee onto the shorts of Port Adelaide’s Tom Jonas. Howe pleaded guilty and was given a one-match ban.
However, Gleeson said the cases “were so bad, the players wiped blood on their opponents’ jumpers and shorts respectively”.
