AFL fans in uproar as West Coast Eagle Tom Barrass’ one-week ban upheld by AFL Tribunal

The AFL has been slammed as having inconsistent double standards by furious fans after West Coast defender Tom Barrass had his one-game suspension upheld on Wednesday.

The Eagles premiership player was offered the suspension for rough conduct after dumping Fremantle veteran Michael Walters into the turf with a tackle in the final term of the western derby.

Walter’s head struck the ball before the turf, but he got up and kicked a goal from the resulting free-kick as well as running out the match with no ill effects.

The Eagles challenged the decision at the AFL Tribunal on Wednesday, leaning into the “good guy” defence that saw Brisbane star Charlie Cameron released from a one-game ban for doing the same thing to Demon Jake Lever.

However, Barrass’ bid failed, much to the disgust and condemnation of the AFL community.

Most fans jumped onto the AFL’s Facebook page to label the decision “appalling” and a “joke”, while one fan said the standards of officiating on and off the field were making the sport hard to watch.

“Between the inconsistent tribunal decisions and umpiring decisions this year, I’m finding it extremely hard to enjoy this sport at the moment. Appalling,” Byron Taylor wrote.

Former 54-game Eagle Callum Chambers was bemused by the decision.

“So, if I read between the lines here, the AFL are basically saying that Charlie Cameron is a better bloke than Tom Barrass. Yeah?” he posted on X, formerly Twitter.

West Coast premiership defender Will Schofield called it an “absolute embarrassment”, while many fans cited bias.

“VFL tribunal discriminates against non-Victorian clubs. In the words of Derryn Hinch! Shame, shame, shame!” Dion Paul Campbell wrote.

Aleksandar Jordanoski added: “Eagles play Gold Coast, and AFL funds Gold Coast, so anything they can do to ensure GC win. Very simple maths here. The AFL is becoming a joke with their decisions.”

Some AFL fans even took aim at Walters for exaggerating the contact.

“How can you say the only difference between this tackle and the Jeremy Cameron tackle is that JC has played more games as a good guy than TB? Should be same tackle same punishment regardless of games played or good guy or not. Bad call AFL. By the way the player flopped and got up and kicked a goal. Start suspending players for flopping the head in their tackles,” Jackson Clark wrote.

West Coast’s General Manager of Football, Gavin Bell, said the decision was disappointing.

“We’re disappointed with the outcome,” he said.

“Our goal was to have the impact reclassified as low, but we weren’t successful with that.

“We accept the Tribunal’s decision, and we move forward.”