Port Adelaide star Dan Houston’s AFL season is over after the tribunal handed him a whopping five-match ban.
After deliberating for more than 40-minutes, the tribunal ended Houston’s year and he will now watch his team play finals from the sidelines due to his brutal bump on Izak Rankine in the third term of Saturday night’s Showdown.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Dan Houston collects Izak Rankine with brutal bump.
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There is also a chance Houston — who reportedly wants out from the club despite being under contract — has played his last game for Port.
Port Adelaide wanted a three-match ban but the AFL argued for five, while accepting Houston was very remorseful.
With only one game remaining in the home and away season, and Port Adelaide set to finish in the top four, Houston could only have made an appearance in the grand final with a four-match (or less) suspension … and even then he would have needed a lot of luck.
If he was to play in the grand final with a four-match ban, he would have needed his team to lose its first qualifying final, then win the semi, and then win the preliminary final, and only after that his suspension would have been served and he would have been available.
Sadly for him, there is no chance of that happening now, unless Port Adelaide appeal.
Houston read from a prepared statement to the tribunal before proceedings started.
“I regret my decision to bump Izak and I’m very sorry for the injury my decision caused,” he said.
“I remember the ball coming in my direction after Keane’s double-fisted spoil. My first thought was to get the ball myself.
“I recall seeing Rankine when I was within a metre or so of him. I don’t remember making the decision to bump. It is clear from the film that I did make that decision. I never meant to hurt Izak, let alone concuss him.
“I don’t believe I made any contact at all with Izak’s head, neck or top of his shoulders, but I accept that my bump caused his head to hit the ground, and because of that, this is classified as high contact.
“At the time, I didn’t see his head hit the ground because I was watching the ball. I don’t know why I didn’t tackle. In the past, this has been my first instinct. I don’t know why I decided to bump because I can’t remember making that decision because it all happened so quickly.
“I reached out to Izak after the game and apologised. I want to formally apologise again now.
“I like to think that I’m a fair player. I have never been suspended before. I’ve been an AFL player for nine years.
“I’ve played in many finals, but never in a grand final. Losing the opportunity to play in a grand final would be crushing to me.”
Port’s lawyer Ben Krupka argued a three-game suspension would be more appropriate given Houston had never been suspended across 168 AFL games and 18 SANFL games.
Krupka said he did not directly strike Rankine’s head with his shoulder, rather Rankine’s concussion was a result of either the contrecoup effect of whiplash or the secondary impact when his head hit the ground.
But Lisa Hannon KC, representing the AFL, argued Houston did in fact make contact with the top of Rankine’s shoulder and neck.
Additionally, club medical records showed Rankine suffered an injury to his shoulder’s AC joint as a result of the bump, as well as a concussion.
The tribunal sided with Hannon, even though it acknowledged Houston’s clean rap sheet.
Chair Jeff Gleeson KC said Houston had a duty of care not to tackle Rankine in a way that would result in an offence of rough conduct.
“Houston breached that duty of care, and his breach was significant,” he said.
“The carelessness was significant, the impact was severe, and the consequences for Rankine were evident.”
– With AAP