The Adelaide Football Club has decided to appeal the AFL Tribunal’s decision to suspend Crows midfielder Ebony Marinoff.
On Tuesday night, Marinoff was found guilty of engaging in forceful front-on contact stemming from an incident during a trial game against GWS last weekend.
She was given a three-week suspension which equates to a third of the AFLW season.
The Club is contesting the Tribunal on the grounds of the decision being unreasonable and that the sanction imposed was excessive.
Crows Head of Women’s Football Phil Harper said the Club weighed up its options and decided appealing was in its best interests.
“We are appealing this decision because we all feel that the suspension is grossly disproportionate for the action,” Harper said.
“We need to support our player in this instance as we feel Ebony acted in an appropriate manner given the circumstances of this incident.
“We also feel for the Giants and Brid in particular and wish her all the best for what is hopefully a speedy recovery.”
Crows AFLW senior coach Matthew Clarke said the Club felt compelled to appeal and support Marinoff in what he believes was a football incident.
“Ebony plays the game in the manner we want all players to play and in my opinion, she made every effort to minimise the impact of what was an unavoidable footy collision,” Clarke said.
“With regard to the penalty, as coaches and administrators we have a duty of care to our players and Ebony and all other AFLW players train incredibly hard for nine months for the opportunity to play just nine games.
“We feel it is unjust and disproportionate to have one third of those games taken away by what I believe to be an unavoidable incident.
“We believe it’s important to not only support our players, but to question an outcome which we see as placing an unreasonable expectation on all players to avoid contact in circumstances where the ball is in dispute.”
If the appeal is unsuccessful, Marinoff doesn’t risk adding more games to her suspension however there will be a financial cost to the Club.
The appeal hearing will likely be held on Thursday evening.
