NORTH Launceston ruckman Daniel Roozendaal will not play in the State League grand final on Saturday after the club's last-ditch appeal against his one-match suspension was dismissed by the league's appeals board on Thursday night.
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After a hearing that lasted almost two hours, the board's decision answered the question that had dominated the lead-up to the premiership decider and dashed the Northern Bombers' hopes of overturning the tribunal penalty on one of their star players.
But the matter may not be over, with club president Thane Brady indicating that he will brief his board on Friday morning about the appeal board's ruling and consider whether any further options were open to them, including the possibility of Supreme Court action for a stay of proceedings.
"That said, it is purely a consideration and is not firmly on the agenda, but there is one more avenue to pursue should the club's board see fit," Brady said.
"We argued that the appeals board should consider using an exercise in discretion that is available to them under their guidelines, which is the same as in the AFL system.
"That is for someone such as Daniel - who has played over 250 games and not been reported by an umpire - that that record should be taken into account and the one week go more towards a suspended sentence.
"Our argument was, unfortunately, not successful."
Brady said the club was disappointed and remained of the view that the tribunal system needed to be changed.
"Many people will say I haven't accepted the umpire's decision and I'm whingeing, but it is not just our club which has these concerns," he said.
"And through a lack of a credible system we now have a fantastic Tasmanian footballer who misses out on playing in a grand final."
A statement from AFL Tasmania said the appeals board had determined that the tribunal had considered all the evidence presented to it and considered using its discretion to alter the original penalty handed down by the match review panel but resolved not to do so.
"In respect to the appeals board's determination as to whether the tribunal should have used their discretion, it found that there were no exceptional or compelling circumstances which would warrant such use of discretion. Therefore, on that basis the appeal has been dismissed."
