Western Bulldogs great Bob Murphy doesn't want to see North Melbourne's Jackson Archer banned over the horror collision with Luke Cleary, which has drawn a three-match suspension. Dogs defender Cleary was knocked out when Archer's knee made contact with his head in a contest in Saturday night's match at Marvel Stadium. Play was stopped and Cleary received medical attention before being taken to hospital.
The 23-year-old was back at Whitten Oval on Monday but will miss the Bulldogs' AFL/VFL centenary celebration match against Collingwood on Friday night under concussion protocols. The match review officer graded Archer's actions as careless conduct, severe impact and high contact, resulting in a three-match ban. North Melbourne are yet to confirm whether they will challenge the penalty at the tribunal.
Former Bulldogs captain Murphy, who has returned to the club in a leadership and cultural capacity this year, does not believe Archer should be suspended. "Because there wasn't a lot of replays on the night it was sort of hard to judge, but my initial thought was it was just one of those unfortunate accidents," Murphy said on Monday. "We get the luxury of looking at it in slow motion, and it's whether the tribunal thinks he had another option, and they might deem that he did.
"There's definitely no malice and it's one of those ones where you don't want to see players miss footy for those sort of things, but it may end up that way." Bulldogs midfielder Tom Liberatore, standing in.