Trengove The Victim Of A Tribunal Blunder | Thebigtip

And so it comes to be that in this day and age, the humble tackle is being forced out of our game.

Young Melbourne Demons star Jack Trengove appealed a two-match suspension handed out to him by the AFL after a slinging tackle rattled Adelaide's Patrick Dangerfield. Although the damage done to Dangerfield was accidental, the tackle was deemed as high impact, high contact and negligent conduct.

Trengove was offered two weeks with an early guilty plea but, as anybody would after such a ridiculous report, the case was challenged. Unfortunately for the Demons and football fans everywhere, Trengove received three weeks on the sidelines.

We have seen plenty of action taken to provide the players with a safer working environment, but the AFL have made the blunder of all blunders here.

Only a week ago we saw Adelaide's Richard Tambling and St. Kilda's Zac Dawson both escape striking charges with one-match suspensions each. Both incidents were quite obviously intentional whereas Trengove was completely unaware that Dangerfield had disposed of the ball.

Another Saint was on report in the wake of their clash with Carlton on Monday night with Leigh Montagna ruled out for an intentional bump on an injured Ed Curnow who was on his way to the bench. The AFL's ruling? Just one week on the sidelines.

In 2010, Carlton captain Chris Judd had no case to answer after he made contact to Fremantle's Matthew Pavlich with his elbow, resulting in five stitches underneath Pavlich's right eye. The AFL advised that "contact was below that required to constitute a reportable offence."

If the AFL's intent was to pound it into the minds of players that striking is okay but challenging the man with the ball is not, they have done a magnificent job.

Just imagine how young, impressionable minds both at grassroots level and in the AFL will react to this news. The very last thing that the modern game needs is for more hardiness to be sucked out of the competition after a number of rule alterations are helping make contact a thing of the past. With the recent ruling on Trengove's case, players have a reason to be tentative when approaching a tackling situation and that's not the right mindset for an AFL footballer.

It is understandable that a negligent strike or bump should result in a penalty but to even suggest that a player should be ruled out for a tackle with no malicious intent is laughable at best. At this rate, players will be wearing skirts and bibs within the next few years.