The AFL has revamped its match review panel, with Collingwood premiership player Luke Ball and Hawthorn counterpart Brad Sewell among those to determine this season whether charges are laid for any on-field incidents.
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AFL general manager of football operations Mark Evans announced on Thursday night that the recently retired Ball and Sewell would join former St Kilda captain Nathan Burke, currently a board member with the Saints, and Collingwood's 1990 premiership defender Michael Christian on the panel. The panel will rotate, with only three men working on a weekly basis.
There will not be a chairman, with a majority of 2-1 or 3-0 ruling on each incident. "Our MRP members boast four premierships and nearly 900 games of AFL experience between them," Evans said.
"They are outstanding candidates to assess, on football terms, the incidents that occur on-field and to make a deliberation on whether a player should face any penalty under the laws of the game.
"The panel mixes recently retired players in Luke and Brad, who have strong experience of the modern game, alongside Michael and Nathan who each have more than three decades of experience at the highest level to call upon for their decision-making."
Evans also said that former Hawthorn and Carlton forward Daniel Harford, now a radio commentator on SEN, and former Saint Shane Wakelin had joined the tribunal jury. They will be a part of a rotation of members.
Ball, former president of the AFL Players Association, and Sewell, a long-time AFLPA board member, are well regarded for their common-sense approach to issues. Former match review panel chairman Mark Fraser has stood down, while former Richmond player Joel Bowden and former Racing Victoria chief steward Des Gleeson have been replaced. Bowden quit his role in September. The new board completes a series of changes to the whole system.
After a season of frustration from players and coaches, the AFL announced before Christmas that all penalties would now be classified as weeks of suspensions or fines, with any reference to base demerit points scrapped. Incidents will now be categorised as only intentional or careless, while carry-over points have also been dumped.
Among the changes, the match review panel will issue fines, two-game and three-game suspensions, with more serious incidents referred to the tribunal.
