West Coast defender Will Schofield has revealed his eagle-eyed mother helped him beat a two-week suspension for what he called a "feathered" blow to the jaw of Demons midfielder Clayton Oliver.
The controversial incident happened during a melee in the Eagle's three point loss to Melbourne on Saturday at Perth's Domain Stadium.
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Although he was suspended for two weeks by the Match Review Panel, Schofield successfully argued on appeal that while he intended to strike Oliver and hit him with his forearm to the chin, the contact was so negligible it was not sufficient for a report. Â
The decision left hanging the reason why Oliver went to ground and how a medical report concluded that he suffered pain and soreness to his jaw.
Speaking to Perth radio station 96FM, Schofield said the Eagles legal team had quite a bit of help from his mother, who lives in Geelong.
"Mum probably studied about eighteen hours of tape and there's about 20 seconds of vision so put that into your calculators!", he joked.
"She was ringing me hourly with updates on how the legal proceedings should take place.
"She may have come up with a piece of evidence that we used as well. She saw Clayton after he'd been hit, running around, possibly hit his jaw on something else other than my elbow that may have..."
Schofield admitted that he struck Oliver and that the Eagle's defence centred on contesting the force that was applied by the hit.
"I was trying to push him with my forearm and my elbow in the chest... initial contact was made with my wrist and forearm to just below his shoulder and then as we're both, we're both moving as it happens, I slightly clip him with my elbow below his chin."
"I was trying to get people back to the change rooms. I'm usually in there trying to start stuff and usually that would have gone against me because I'd of been in there niggling people.
"Oliver ended up in front of us, he pushed Shuey, I pushed Oliver and... he fell to the deck, and yeah, that's sort of where it all come from."
The defender said the incident shook him up, believing he had seriously injured Oliver and that he would pay a hefty penalty.
"I was immediately reported by an umpire one metre from me and so I though, have I just absolutely flushed him in the jaw? He's got a broken jaw, I'm going to get ten weeks.
"So I sat in at half time, for pretty much the whole break while our backline coach was talking to us thinking I'm getting multiple weeks here."
However, he said when he'd had a chance to look at footage after the match he knew he had to appeal.
"The club lawyer rang me on Sunday morning and he said if there's any vision we'll have a go at it and as soon as I saw the vision I wanted to appeal."
- with Michael Gleeson
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