Sydney superstar and Brownlow Medal contender Isaac Heeney faces a nervous wait from the match review officer after collecting St Kilda defender Jimmy Webster with a swinging arm during Sunday’s thriller.
Late in the third quarter, Heeney was trying to create space between himself and Webster when he swung his hand back.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Heeney in hot water for high shot.
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Webster was stopped in tracks and immediately grabbed at his face, while Heeney took an uncontested mark.
The St Kilda player had blood coming from nose, but was able to stay out on the field.
Replays showed Heeney’s hand made contact with Webster’s face, although it appeared accidental.
Webster received treatment at three-quarter time, but was able to play out the match.
Channel 7 commentator Campbell Brown said Heeney might be saved by the “open hand”.
“I think a nervous night’s wait before the MRO come down. Open hand might save him,” he said.
Jobe Watson agreed: “That is the action. It was a clenched fist, it might have been different because of the ramifications of what the contact might have done.”
However, under new tribunal rules introduced over the off-season, a high fend off like that can be graded as “intentional”, which would result in a one-match ban.
If he is suspended then it will rule him out of contention for the Brownlow Medal.
Heeney was among his side’s best with 24 touches and two goals, but it wasn’t enough as the Saints caused one of the upsets of the season to win by two points.
The ladder leaders looked on track for another victory, but capitulated in the final term to kick just five behinds as the Saints stormed home.
Sydney forward Logan McDonald, who failed to make the distance after the siren in last week’s one-point loss to Fremantle, narrowly missed another match-winning goal in the final minute.
The Saints did enough to just hold on in the dying stages to cap off a memorable comeback.
More to come …