The AFL’s match review system faces one of its toughest-ever tests following a brutal Steven May bump that left Carlton forward Francis Evans with concussion, a split nose and a lost tooth on Saturday night.
The sickening collision came late in the third term of Carlton’s eight-point win over Melbourne at the MCG – 12.6 (78) to 10.10 (70) – ending a four-game losing streak for Blues coach Michael Voss.
But as the Blues celebrate a change of fortune and a much-needed win, all eyes will turn to the MRO on Sunday for a ruling on the May hit.
While the outcome was devastating for the 40-gamer Evans, who was immediately ruled out of the game, May appeared to have every intention of going for the ball.
He was charging out from full-back as Evans chased a loose ball into Carlton’s forward line when they collided, May’s right shoulder collecting Evans’ face and sending him tumbling to the ground.
Carlton forward Ashton Moir converted a goal from the resulting free kick – one of his four goals for the night – to hand the Blues a valuable 10-point lead at the time.
May was later concussed in a separate incident, copping a knock to the head when Tom De Koning took a spectacular mark over a pack of players in the last quarter, meaning he will have to miss next Sunday’s clash against St Kilda.
Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin defended May after the game, saying the full-back’s intent was to get the ball when he bumped the Carlton forward.
“It’s really unfortunate,” Goodwin said. “You get a concussion in the game, and sometimes you can be concussed without being reported, and it’s going to be one of those ones that will have to go through the process.
“But if you just look at his pure intent, it was purely for the ball.
“And in the end, he [May] has walked away with a concussion, himself, late in the game with a knee in a marking contest.”
Goodwin said May had also had to leave the ground momentarily after the Evans clash because of the blood rule.
“He just said, ‘I didn’t even have any other option [in the Evans incident]. I was going for the ball.’ Those were his comments as he came to the bench. Like, he was as surprised as anyone.”
Fox Footy commentator Nathan Buckley said even though the incident happened in a split-second and May would have thought “he was going to go and win that football”, he was not sure “our game can allow that anymore”.
“We are trying to legislate that outcome, not the intent, but that outcome [out of the game],” Buckley said.
Blues coach Michael Voss was reluctant to lay blame on May after the match, even though he said the action was “clearly going to get looked at” by the match review officer.
“Both players were in line with the ball,” Voss said.
“They seemed to be attacking it, to be fair, if I’m being brutally honest, and both sort of making a play at the ball.
“Maybe one person was one step late, which obviously... then the incident happens.
“I don’t tend to read too much into it at this point in time. [I’ll] let the tribunal take care of it, really. I mean, it’s up to them to be able to adjudicate what they think is fair.”
Speaking to Triple M radio after the game, Carlton’s Zac Williams said May had apologised to Evans for his part in the incident.
“I think I was running [in the] corridor, calling for the handball, to be honest,” Williams said.
“I haven’t seen the replay or anything, I only saw it in real-time, and Maysy unfortunately clipped him in the head.
“Maysy came up after it all happened and apologised to him and checked in on him, which is what you want to see when something like that happens.
“It was very unfortunate, and I guess that’ll just get dealt with next week.”
The Evans hit overshadowed what was an entertaining game from two sides who have struggled all year.
Carlton crept ahead to an eight-point lead at quarter time thanks to two Charlie Curnow goals, the first in the opening 36 seconds was his first in 35 days, and then stretched the margin to 19 points at the long break.
Goodwin blamed the slow start for Melbourne’s loss, saying “we didn’t win the game because we didn’t start the game with the right intensity”.
The Blues would be rapt with the potential of talented youngster Moir, who booted four for the night – two in the second quarter, and three by half-time.
But Melbourne kept surging back through the brilliance of Kysaiah Pickett, who booted two sensational goals at the start of the third term – one a 40-metre snap from the pocket after taking a mark, the other a 35-metre check-side from the opposite boundary after another mark.
Melbourne fought to within 10 points at three-quarter-time but could only reduce that margin to eight points by the game’s end.
A hard-working Curnow bobbed up to kick the sealer to bring up his third two minutes before the final siren.
Pickett finished with five for the night, and was the game’s most influential player.
Clayton Oliver celebrated his 200th game for the Demons with a head-to-head match-up on Blues skipper Patrick Cripps. Both were influential. Cripps had 29 disposals for the night, while Oliver had 26.
Melbourne dominated possession (384 to 305) and led the inside 50s across the four quarters (58 to 50) but once again could not find enough successful avenues forward against Jacob Weitering and a stable Blues defence.
Bayley Fritsch provided a cameo for Pickett with two goals, while Christian Salem was damaging off half-back.