Thompson expressed his disappointment with Brendon Goddard’s suspension for a minor off-the-ball incident.
Essendon coach Mark Thompson has expressed his dismay at Brendon Goddard’s suspension, saying the match review panel system needed to be “fixed up”.
Goddard received a one-match suspension for an off-the-ball incident on Port Adelaide’s Kane Cornes during the Bombers’ thrilling two-point win on Saturday.
Although clearly disagreeing with the decision, Thompson said the club didn’t challenge it because they risked losing him for two weeks.
Cornes was accused of making the most of Goddard’s hit, and Thompson said that some rulings needed to be addressed.
“I think a lot of them have been fixed up and for me, I think, it’s still something that needs to be fixed up,” Thompson said on Friday.
“You could probably understand a week if they were consistent and do it every time, everyone knows the rules. This was a surprise to us.
“I thought he was stiff, really, not to be playing this week.
“Things like that happen every game. He shouldn’t have done it, but at the same time you wouldn’t think from where we are sitting as a supporter of footy, you wouldn’t think it was worth two weeks to do that.”
Thompson said the Bombers didn’t have a leg to stand on and chose not to risk Goddard copping an extra week.
“Because we were challenging and risking two weeks,” he said.
“It’s just the rules, the current rule, we had no where to go.
“We asked QC’s and strictly by the rules, they (MRP) were right.”
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