A fresh controversy has erupted in Australian Rules Football after Western Bulldogs head coach Luke Beveridge launched a scathing rebuke of the AFL’s decision to uphold a staging fine against forward Will Lewis, accusing the league of dismissing clear medical evidence to set a troubling new precedent for future disciplinary cases.
The penalty stems from an incident during last Friday’s match at the Sydney Cricket Ground, where the Bulldogs fell to the Sydney Swans. Lewis was issued a AU$1000 fine for alleged intentional staging during the game’s fourth quarter. In a bid to overturn the charge, the Western Bulldogs club submitted official medical documentation proving Lewis had been struck hard in the solar plexus during the play, a blow that left him temporarily unable to breathe and forced him to remain on the ground.
Despite the submission, the AFL declined to reverse the fine. Beveridge told reporters this outcome now establishes a new, unwelcome standard that all Australian Football League clubs will have to navigate going forward. “In this one, he’s actually copped one in the solar plexus, it’s knocked the wind out of him,” Beveridge explained. “He’s hit the deck and then he’s obviously been charged with staging … what the AFL are saying to us is if you get hit, regardless if you do or don’t, if you stay down you can still be charged with staging.”
Beveridge emphasized that the medical submission clearly confirmed Lewis could not have gotten back to his feet immediately due to his injury, yet the league brushed this evidence aside. “The AFL has obviously thumbed their nose at it and said, ‘We just think you’ve staged’,” he said. “It’s changed now to what staging is, it’s totally contingent on how long you stay down, not whether or not you actually got hit because he got hit.”
The coach also came to Lewis’ defense, pushing back against any implication that the forward intentionally faked an injury to gain an advantage. “I feel for him because I don’t want him to be tarred with a brush that he’s put on an act because he hasn’t,” Beveridge said. “It just means now that if doctors from the football clubs, if they put forward submissions that a player is in discomfort, has been hit, the AFL will now ignore that and base it on what they see.”
Beyond the disciplinary controversy, Beveridge also confirmed that key Bulldogs ruckman Tim English is in fitness doubt ahead of this weekend’s highly anticipated match against the West Coast Eagles. English played through discomfort in last week’s loss to the Swans, and his availability for the upcoming clash remains uncertain. He will need to get through a full training session without issue and pull up well by Friday to be confirmed as a starter.
Beveridge noted that English has struggled for consistent form this season, a slump he attributes in part to disrupted game time from a recent concussion that has also dented the big man’s confidence. The coach, however, remains optimistic that consistent selection will help English return to his dominant best. “A bit like our midfield group this year, we’ve had some inconsistency through them working together, individuals at times and Tim’s in that,” he said. “But he’s obviously had some disruptions with the concussion, so a part of it might be a confidence thing. I’ve got every thought in my head that he’s going to be able to move towards being influential again – whether that is this week or not remains to be seen.”