Brisbane have succeeded in their last-ditch bid to clear Charlie Cameron, with the star Lion’s suspension thrown out by the appeals board.
The gun forward was hit with a three-match ban following a dangerous tackle on West Coast co-captain Liam Duggan in an incident that immediately polarised the football world.
Cameron met Duggan front on in a strong tackle, but their legs appeared to get tangled and the Eagle ended up falling backwards with his head crashing into the ground.
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Duggan suffered a concussion as a result and the match review officer assessing the incident as careless conduct, severe impact and high contact.
The Lions challenged the initial decision at the tribunal on Tuesday, but failed to overturn the ban.
They took the case to the appeals board where they argued that the tribunal prioritised the guidelines rather than the laws of the game.
They also argued that the findings were so unreasonable that no tribunal acting reasonably could’ve reached the conclusion it did.
Brisbane legal counsel Chris Winneke said the tribunal “put the cart before the horse” by focusing on the guidelines before actually determining whether Cameron committed a reportable offence.
“This is a great game … There will be circumstances where people will suffer injury despite the fact players exercise reasonable care,” he added.
The AFL argued there was no error of law and no prioritisation of the tribunal guidelines.
The appeals board took just over 30 minutes before deciding to overturn the ban based on the tribunal making an error of law.
Cameron is now free to play in this weekend’s blockbuster against ladder-leaders Sydney.