David King Supports Tigers’ Three-Week Suspension to Foster ‘Behavioural Change’

North Melbourne legend David King is fully supportive of Richmond forward Rhyan Mansell’s three-match suspension for rough conduct, which occurred when he shoved St Kilda’s Liam O’Connell during a marking contest.

The Tigers are set to contest the penalty at the AFL tribunal on Tuesday night, following the match review officer Michael Christian’s assessment of the incident as careless conduct, with severe impact and high contact levels.

During the first quarter of St Kilda’s 82-point victory over Richmond on Saturday, Mansell forcefully pushed O’Connell into a marking contest in the forward 50 involving Tom Lynch and Anthony Caminiti.

Focusing only on the ball, Lynch collided with O’Connell, making high contact that resulted in the Irishman suffering a concussion, which forced him to be substituted out of the match.

The visible distress from O’Connell in the moments following the incident has sparked renewed calls for measures to eliminate such tactics from the game, primarily due to similar occurrences in previous weeks going unpunished.

One notable incident involved Richmond’s draftee Sam Lalor, who sustained a concussion and a hairline fracture in his jaw when West Coast’s Reuben Ginbey pushed him into a contest late during their pre-season match, with Ginbey later cleared of any wrongdoing while Lalor underwent surgery.

King, a longstanding advocate for the protection of players’ heads at all costs, has previously urged for punishments to be meted out to those players who intentionally thrust their opponents into dangerous situations.

While acknowledging that pushing and shoving are part of the game, King emphasised the necessity of prohibiting the act of forcing an opponent into a physical contest as a “duty of care”.

“You can jostle, but you simply cannot push your opponent into an oncoming bus,” he asserted.

“Players are aware of it. [Mansell] pushed him into traffic. Small forwards have been doing it for years.

“The game has reached a level in terms of head protection where such actions can no longer be tolerated. The times have changed.”

The Tigers confirmed on Monday that they will challenge the suspension at the tribunal.