Paul Chapman reacts to hitting Port Adelaide utility Robbie Gray. Source: Salpigtidis George / HeraldSun
PAUL Chapman might get lucky with a negligent and low-impact match review panel ruling, but if not, he's gone.
No one will like it if he is suspended.
No one liked that Lance Franklin was suspended for a week for bumping Sydney's Nick Malceski.
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And absolutely no one likes the thought of Ted Richards being suspended for his bump on Carlton's Levi Casboult.
I have never sang the chorus that the bump is dead, but effectively it is. Why would you do it? Why run the risk?
The best intentions to play the sport at a vigorous level have been sucked out of the competition because of a rule introduced to avoid concussion, a word which scares the rule makers because of potential litigation in years to come, a la American football.
The AFL would say it is a rule to protect the players, but there's always a multitude of agendas.
What's a week now, when it can help us save millions in compo in the long run?.
Franklin's hit wasn't malicious, Chapman's even less so. And Richards' hit was perfection.
It's a debate for another time, but we've come a long way from Byron Pickett's front-on missile bumps to players bent over the ball. Perhaps too far.
Franklin and Chapman were late, even cheap, but they weren't vicious.
Something's gone amiss with the bump and not for the first time this year, it has to be said the world's gone mad.
So, Chappy might miss. He bumped and hit Robbie Gray in the head. Herald Sun photographer George Salpigtidis caught the moment in a series of pictures. Gray holding his jaw as he lay on the ground will be exhibit A for the prosecution.
But it didn't hurt Gray. He got up and took his kick. It should've been 50m and on your bike.
The match review panel ruled Franklin negligent and medium impact. Surely Chapman gets the same negligent category and surely he gets low impact. There were no scans for Gray after all.
If so, it means Chapman will play in the preliminary final.
It's crucial he does, because without him, the Kennett Curse looks decidedly shaky.
The Hawks haven't had a better opportunity to wipe out the jinx imposed by former Hawks president Jeffrey K.
Of course, a jinx or curse is what you make it to be. To the rest of us it is very real. To the Hawks it is a media beat-up. Or is it?
Indeed, the Cats are vulnerable.
Potentially no Chapman. No Corey Enright. Tom Hawkins has a 60-year-old man's back. James Podsiadly is out of form. Nathan Vardy didn't touch it until the final quarter on Friday night. Travis Varcoe is hit and miss. Where to play Bartel - back, forward or mid, bearing in mind is he the team's No.1 kick-in from a behind? And Rivers has a bung ankle.
And the Cats have to be weary.
They had a tough game against Brisbane, a cage match versus Fremantle, and then chased Port Adelaide's for two quarters.
They'd want to stop choking in front of goal, too. They have kicked 13.18, 9.18, 15.22 in their past three matches.
The positives are experience, self-belief and a defensive press which is often overlooked as experts swoon over their transition from defence and corridor ball movement.
They have the hard bodies in Selwood, Kelly and Corey, the speed of Motlop, Varcoe and Christensen, the brilliant Stevie J, the nous of Stokes, the greatness of Bartel, and a backline group headed by Taylor, Lonergan and Mackie.
The Hawks, meanwhile, are prolific in all those areas as well, and have had a week off to rid bodies of aches and pains.
The Cats will need everything going for them to make it 12 in a row, starting with the MRP's results about 3pm today.
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