Quote:
RED-HOT Brownlow Medal favourite Chris Judd has been cleared of a dangerous sling tackle by the AFL's match review panel.
The panel was expected to scrutinise a tackle by the Blues skipper on St Kilda's Sam Gilbert at the MCG on Saturday night.
But in the weekly media release from the AFL, the tackle - which seemed legitimate - was not even listed as an incident assessed by the panel during their review of the weekend's matches.
No action was taken after the tackle in the second quarter, Gilbert immediately got to his feet and played out the game, and no player remonstrated with Judd.
The incident was replayed on Channel 7 yesterday after it became the talk of social media networks.
But Judd's tackle wasn't the banned two-motions variety and Gilbert's head didn't hit the turf.
into the HUN translator...
Chris Judd, who some bookies have bizarrely paid out on to win this year's Brownlow Medal, has been amazingly been cleared of an extremely dangerous sling tackle by the AFL's match review panel.
The panel was expected to reprimand or suspend the Blues' highest paid player for a tackle on 2010 Grand Finalist Sam Gilbert of St Kilda.
But in a case reminiscent of Judd being cleared over his deliberate elbow to the face of Matthew Pavlich, which allowed him to steal the Brownlow Medal from Dane Swan in 2010, he is free to steal this year's medal as well as face up against James Hird's extremely brave Essendon* outfit this weekend.
No action was taken after the tackle in the second quarter, even though Gilbert got to his feet and ran in the wrong direction for a few seconds, as if shaken by such a reckless act.
The incident was replayed on Channel 7, and expert testimony from social media sites such as twitter and Mark Robinson were submitted as evidence on the callousness of the tackle.
The AFL did not return calls to the Herald Sun yesterday when asked whether there was an inconsistency in dealing with Chris Judd as opposed to other AFL footballers.