Unfathomable. That’s the word Jack Ziebell used to describe Nick Naitanui’s one-week suspension. 

Speaking on the Powershop Players’ Podcast, Ziebell discussed the West Coast star’s controversial tackle on Port Adelaide’s Karl Amon. 

“The AFL at the moment is very injury-reactive, and I understand why that’s the case, but in my opinion the punishment should be based around the action,” Ziebell said.

“For Naitanui to get a week for that, is just unfathomable.” 

The show’s panel member Sam Wright also believes the tackle was legal.

“The stance has been that the two-action tackle, where you grab someone and you sling them is illegal, and now it seems that you can’t tackle someone with aggression,” he said.

“The only thing that he did wrong in my eyes was not roll him in the tackle.” 

Wright believes Naitanui’s size difference should be irrelevant.

“How is Nic Naitanui meant to take into account that [his size] and think, “I’m 20 kilos heavier than the bloke I’m tackling, he’s got his arm free with the ball, but he’s not going put that arm with the ball down and he’s just going to face plant.” If you’re bigger, you shouldn’t have to take that into account, that’s just footy, you have big guys and you have little guys.” 

Jack Ziebell agreed.

“If Nic Naitanui was not Nic Naitanui and he made that tackle, would Karl Amon be knocked out? Probably not. So I can’t see how the AFL can punish Nic Naitanui for that tackle, it’s not a two action tackle, it’s not a dangerous tackle,” Ziebell said.

What had the panelists truly confused, was the apparent inconsistency after Shaun Higgins was knocked out by Ryan Burton in Round 5.

“The injury can’t be a determining factor in my eyes,” Wright said. 

“You look at Shaun Higgins, when he got knocked out a couple of weeks ago, Ryan Burton had 20 metres to think of another way to stop Higgo, but he couldn’t foresee a head-clash, so that’s why he got off.

“We all thought that with the Higgo incident, it was a bit of a line in the sand, but then this [the Naitanui suspension] happens the next week.” 

 Ziebell suggested everyone was now perplexed. 

 “That’s why the Higgo case is so confusing to me. I don’t think that Burton should have got a week, but with the outcome, and everything that has gone in the past, it’s confusing.”

Episode 6 of the Powershop Players Podcast will be released on Thursday afternoon.

The Powershop Players Podcast will be released on Thursday afternoon. Subscribe to the podcast via iTunes to get a notification when it’s live!