BROWNLOW MEDAL night might be AWKWARD AGAIN

on Brown low metal night 2024 there will be a huge elephant in the room it will be in the form of Sydney Swan Superstar Isaac Heeney one of the brown low medal favorites Isaac Heeney who might find himself in a little bit of hot water for this errant fist to the face of Jimmy Webster there it is the right hand swinging back blooded nose maybe a broken nose to Jimmy Webster after this one is going to be a big isini a player that you would think throws hands around like that on purpose no but he has and he's hit a guy in the head he's his round 17 suspension for a whack on Jimmy Webster has become one of the stories of the season with the potential to be the defining one on Brown low medal night if heene is on top of the vote count when the night ends his one game ban ruled him ineligible for the award and sparked disappointment from the swans themselves and others in the AFL world but not all after his failed attempt to throw out the ban at the AFL appeals board the final place to dispute the issue Isaac Heeney put out this statement to Sydney Swan's members and fans hey guys uh obviously extremely disappointed with that result um pretty shattering to be honest uh but I just want to jump on here and um give a heartfelt uh thank you um obviously the show support from the the club here from from the top down being Tom Harley horse Leon uh and our lawyer Duncan thank you guys very much also wanted to jump on and just say thank you so much to the support from the the fans the members uh in The Wider Community uh it's been truly incredible um just wanted to also say that I can guarantee one thing uh and that's when I'm back I'll make sure I I do this this club proud now some thought it was a little strange to release a video like this it's not like Heeney had a season ending injury missed a goal after the siren we got suspend for doing something dumb off the field he did Miss just one week of football in the end now I didn't mind the video as it was Heeney thanking his fans for supporting him and being ineligible for the brown low while having a great season would be disappointing however the gws Giants who have a track record for poking fun on their banners or on social media took no mercy Toby green the captain couldn't help himself hey guys obviously pretty shattered to get again over the weekend I just wanted to jump on here and give a heartfelt sorry to all the Giants fans in the wide for Community along with my family uh I can guarantee one thing is that it will not happen again that'll be tough and I'll promise to pay the fine all by myself I'll do everything I can to make sure this year is a special one again thank you all for your support the giggles at the end tell it all the mocking video did gain some some traction and was funny did it cross the line I don't really think so but it will add more spice to the Sydney rivalry that is already pretty heated people want more humor and personality in the game and this did that in fact green pooke funned himself as well when referring to his own issues with receiving finds however Sydney weren't happy and CEO Tom Harley expressed his clear disappointment there's an episode this week which I found intriguing it started off with Isaac Keeny uh getting a onewe ban he did an apology video to the Sydney Swan members Toby green then took the p155 uh and and I guess trolled his business partner on the giant social media and Tom Harley responded to this the Sydney CEO on scn yesterday um I did see the Giants one not going to give it any air um pretty low brow um Isaac is a champion of our club champion of the game talk about growing the game a break from Newcastle um brought up rugby league um I wouldn't have done it low brow wouldn't have done it Jimmy you're a giant but the incident is very serious and its potential to ruin Brown low Knight we all know the quirks of it many of which have people questioning whether the actual voting method should change but the fairest element of it is a critical part you get one suspension for a pretty innocuous and Technical incident like Heeney you are out even though Zack Butters and Jesse Hogan can actually intentionally punch and hit people they can still be in the race even Jimmy Webster who got a massive 7 game ban for his bump on Joy simpkin is eligible because the incident occurred in the pre-season it all paints a very unlucky pitcher for an incredibly fair and tough player in Isaac Heeney It All Leads back to the fairest element of the award I think it's time for the AFL to get with the times Chris got an AFL 360 summarized it perfectly is when these things were implemented especially with the brown LW say in the 20s you could punch a player behind the plane not get suspended now because the the The Benchmark for being suspended is so much tighter then and the awards kind of haven't moved with it and as you say this was only this award was only um instigated in '93 um it seems a bit Antiquated to me so it makes for an incredible race our definition of what is fair and Fair does change the implementation of the award 100 years ago had no forecast of where the game would be today last year if Heeney did that exact action and the outcome was the same he wouldn't have got a one game ban but because of a small technical addition to the rules it means one year later he can't win one of the major Awards in the competition it's weird and in itself is a bit unfair Jonathan Brown former winners in Patrick Crips Jared Healey and Jimmy Bartel have been just some of the big names in the sport to call for an over hle of the fairest element it does feel like it is growing some momentum where he has got a week he might and and dangerous tackle is when both arms are pinned and the opponent's head hits the ground that that constitutes a dangerous tackle and I got no problems with if he gets a week for that because that's the rules and regulations but the brown l it would make him ineligible for the brown l so for a dangerous tackle of that nature where you get a onee suspension surely that would not play should not make a play ineligible for the brown low so that's just uh the eligibility rules for the brown low off the back of that incident that is not unfair we know Brown lows for how you would exactly implement it could be very open one ways to put a limit on weeks of play can miss due to suspension for example if a player misses any more than three games they are ruled and eligible it gives leeway for really Technical and accidental incidents like Heeney but still protects the foundation of being a fair player or you could do it by the type of incident say if a player intentionally hits someone in the face but the impact is low or medium the suspension may only be 2 weeks but because the incident itself is is dirty or not in the spirit of the game they could be deemed ineligible these are just a couple possible ways to implement A system that is modern but also upholds the tradition of the award surely the afo will at least have the discussion sooner rather than later although Heeney will not finish 2024 with the brandler around his neck I think he would prefer a Premiership medal he has lost the two grand finals he has played in in and now at his Peak has the chance to heavily impact finals the swans are in the box seat to win the Premiership and he's Brilliance is a big reason why