Fremantle Dockers coach Justin Longmuir reveals Alex Pearce feeling hard done by with three-week suspension

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Fremantle Dockers coach Justin Longmuir reveals Alex Pearce feeling hard done by with three-week suspension

Fremantle coach Justin Longmuir says skipper Alex Pearce feels “hard done by” after being handed a hefty suspension for a brutal knock with Power defender Darcy Byrne-Jones.

Pearce was handed a three-week sanction on Sunday after a head-on ariel collision with Byrne-Jones left the Port Adelaide player floored and ruled out of the game with concussion symptoms.

Both players were desperately chasing after a mark in the pouring rain at Optus Stadium, Byrne-Jones running back with the flight against Pearce, who didn’t see him coming.

The MRO ruled the contact was careless, with high contact and severe impact; however, Fremantle, who won the game by 49 points, opted to challenge the three-week suspension at the AFL Tribunal on Tuesday night.

Longmuir told AFL360 he felt the collision was a result of a “football act” and that he wasn’t sure what else the defender could have done in the situation.

“Alex’s view is he’s hard done by, and he’s really disappointed with the result that got handed down by the MRO,” he said.

“My view is that it was a really difficult situation that both players found themselves in.

“We ask our players to play the ball. That was a snap out of a congested situation. Alex has made a play on the ball, and Byrne-Jones has got there a fraction earlier than Alex.

“I was so strong on it after the game because I didn’t think Alex turned or braced and bumped. If anything he left himself open as well on impact. I just see that as a footy act.

“I have sympathy for Byrne-Jones; you never like to see players get subbed out of the game with concussion, but I’m not sure there’s a lot a 200cm guy running at full pace thinking he’s going to take a chest mark in the wet is able to do in that situation.”

Longmuir also suggested the club may contest the high contact on Byrne-Jones.

“I think there’s a bit of whiplash, and I also think his head hits the ground when he goes to ground,” he said.

“Alex clearly hasn’t turned and braced. I think it’s a footy act.”

Greater Western Sydney coach Adam Kingsley, who suffered defeat at the hands of the Dockers in round 10, weighed in on the knock as well, saying he felt Pearce’s eyes were on the footy at all times.

Camera IconAlex Pearce. Credit: Paul Kane/Getty Images

“The thing that I kind of noticed in the clips is Pearce’s eyes,” he told AFL360.

“And I think it looked like to me it was eyes on the ball the whole way, and then the last split second, his eyes realised there’s a collision, and he kinda turns his head and closes his eyes to absorb it, I suppose.

“It potentially could have gone the other way the way that he left himself open like that. I don’t think there was any malicious intent at all.”

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