Chris Yarran has apologised to Carlton supporters for his impending three-match absence, imposed by the AFL tribunal as punishment for his punch to the head of Paul Chapman last weekend.
Yarran will miss the Blues' matches against St Kilda, Collingwood and Brisbane after the tribunal elected to take a middle ground in the penalties requested by the lawyers acting for and against him on Tuesday evening.
"I accept the tribunal's sanction. It wasn't my intention to hurt Paul, who I respect enormously, and I'm very sorry for it," Yarran said after the hearing. "I'd just like to apologise to the Carlton supporters and I look forward to getting out in three weeks' time with my teammates and, hopefully, getting a few wins on the board."
Even though Yarran's counsel requested a two-match ban, Carlton general manager of football operations Andrew McKay said the club felt they got a fair hearing from the jury of Richard Loveridge, Wayne Henwood and debutant juror Daniel Harford. He reiterated that the 24-year-old was "very remorseful".
"It's an unfortunate incident but now Chris has an opportunity to train very, very hard over the next three weeks, make his way back into the team and play good footy," McKay said.
The issue of a phantom head-butt was significant in the hearing. Yarran said it was his belief that Chapman's head had made contact, albeit minimal, with his chin which was what triggered the escalation of their scuffle, to the point where Yarran delivered the left hook that cut the Bomber above his eye and forced him from the field for 22 minutes as the wound was treated. Chapman also had a concussion test and developed some blurred vision in his left eye immediately after the incident.
"I actually thought he was trying to head-butt me at that time. That was why I got a bit agitated," said Yarran. He added that a subsequent elbow to his midriff from Chapman had "got me pretty good".
Yarran nevertheless said he was "obviously very remorseful" for the blow, declaring he had a lot of respect for Chapman, and that "hopefully it never happens again".
Under questioning from tribunal counsel Jeff Gleeson, QC, Yarran conceded that the footage suggested Chapman's head had not made contact with his chin.
Because of that allegation Chapman was given an opportunity to respond. Giving evidence by telephone, he rejected the notion he made any contact with his head to Yarran's chin.
"From my perspective it was a push and shove – and it escalated pretty quickly," he said.
While Yarran accepted the match review panel's grading of intentional, high impact and high contact, defence counsel Marcus Clarke raised several factors in seeking leniency for him: the provocation from Chapman, who initiated the scuffle in seeking to prevent Yarran receiving a handball from a nearby teammate who was lining up for a long attempt at goal, that it was at the "lower end" of high impact, that Yarran would have benefited from a good-record discount under the now-axed provision in the new disciplinary laws, and that Chapman was, unlike West Coast's Dean Cox last year when felled by Richmond's Ty Vickery, directly facing him and therefore able to anticipate contact.
"It's not a Vickery-like situation," Clarke said.
Clarke's request for a two-match ban, based on Vickery having served a four-match ban, was contrasted by Gleeson's request for a base penalty of four or five matches.
"It was not a short-arm jab that happened to connect a bit better than maybe anticipated. It was a full swing of the arm," Gleeson said, arguing Chapman's pushing and shoving of Yarran did not constitute exceptional circumstances.
Gleeson did, however, compliment Yarran for his "full and comprehensive" acceptance of the charge and said the jury could offer him some discount because of that. The jurors seemingly decided a base penalty of four matches, reduced to three because of his guilty plea, was appropriate.
Paul Chapman came from the field after this incident with Chris Yarran #AFLBluesDons http://t.co/eIQq9JsmMT— AFL (@AFL) April 18, 2015
