Demetriou backs tribunal, MRP
Andrew Demetriou says there won't be an overhaul of the AFL Tribunal or Match Review Panel - but aspects do need improving
THERE will be no major overhaul of the AFL Tribunal or Match Review Panel according to League chief executive Andrew Demetriou.
But Demetriou did concede the AFL needs to look at how it communicates potentially confusing aspects of the system to the public.
Calls for a complete review of the code's disciplinary processes escalated this week after Bulldog ruckman Will Minson was given the all clear to play this weekend after his stomping charge on Sydney Swan Kieren Jack was downgraded.
"I'm not at all on this bandwagon of overhauls of the Match Review Panel," Demetriou told reporters on Friday.
"I think it's very dramatic, [I] don't think it needs an overhaul."
When Minson's stomping charge was reduced in severity from intentional to reckless, his penalty - thanks also to his good record - dropped below 100 points, meaning he can play against Geelong on Sunday.
However, Demetriou disagreed that the big Bulldog got off scot-free.
"He actually didn't get off. We need to communicate that much better to the supporters and the public because I think they're entitled to understand why that happened," Demetriou said.
"The assumption that he got off and nothing happened is wrong and that's more our fault, not the supporters."
Demetriou said the system would undergo its standard annual review process, and predicted there would be some minor alterations.
"Football operations and the MRP do a review every year, and they'll sit down and they'll review things that happened this year, and they'll do things better next year and they'll tinker here and there with various gradings and the like," he said.
Matt Thompson is a reporter for AFL Media. Follow him on Twitter @MattThompsonAFL