The Tribunal Hearing

THE TRIBUNAL HEARING

Who's on the Tribunal?
The player's mouthpiece
The Tribunal's assisitant
The decision

Brian Collis QC (Chairperson); Shane Maguire (Deputy Chairperson); Elaine Canty; David Shibury; Brian LeBrocq; Emmet Dunne; and Michael Green.

The player’s mouthpiece

The player is entitled to have a "Players' Advocate" represent him and make sure he gets a good hearing. Often this will be someone employed by the club – no lawyers allowed!

The Tribunal’s assistant

There is also a person (not a lawyer), who is there to help the Tribunal – they are called the Reporting Officer (which is a silly name for this person – the umpire/AFL did the reporting). Their job is to:

advise the Tribunal about the charge;

tell them what they think about the charge;

bring along people to give evidence;

ask questions of these people; and

finally summarise it all.

For example, they might call the umpire(s) and players to give evidence, no matter who that evidence might benefit, or make sure they are available if the Players' Advocate wants to ask them questions. They are also allowed to change the charge during the hearing, if the Tribunal agrees.

Cybergame (part 5)

The decision

The Tribunal can impose any penalty they like, but they should have some regard to:

the seriousness of the offence;
any injuries as a result of the offence; and
the guilty player's prior offences.

The Rules do not oblige the Tribunal to give reasons for its verdict. Is this giving the player a fair hearing? We’ll look at this a little later.

Cybergame (part 6)

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