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Pratt gets three weeks

Luke Pratt, one of the fairest players in the WAFL, has been given three weeks for the bump on Claremont’s captain Clancey Ruderforth which left the Claremont captain with a broken jaw.

In vision promoted on various websites Rudeforth is seen running at Pratt who was chasing another Claremont player Ryan Brabazon.  Rudeforth made contact with Pratt who had eyes only for the ball and at the last minute protected himself from the confrontation with Rutheford.  Vision of the incident shows Ruderforth running at Pratt to sheperhed his teamate however Pratt had not raised his elbow but rather braced for the impact which his elbow and arm came up after the collision as a reaction in an attempt to regain his balance.  Pratt’s upper arm appears to have collected Rudeforth’s jaw as the smaller player came in to fend off Pratt.  Pratt’s right arm and his bent elbow is seen raised as he struggles to retain his balance.  Ruderforth provided a statement which declared that he initiated the contact.  Unfortunately for Pratt all the umpires who were called to give evidence provided exactly the same story which is interesting given that one umpire appears to be at least 40m off the player and the other umpires were well off the play to actually see what happened and the boundary umpire was on the opposite side to the point of contact and clearly would not have seen the point of impact.

We understand that Swan Districts will examine the matter tomorrow before deciding to appeal.