Far be it from Crikey to wish any more
unhappiness on Justin Koschitzke, who is quite possibly the most injury-prone
footballer going around. We’d like nothing more than to see Kosi play more than
one match in a row without suffering some bizarre mishap, but we feel a need to
address a wider issue – the fact he was only handed a one-game suspension for
barrelling straight into the back of an umpire during a reserves match.

Let’s rewind almost a decade to Essendon v Carlton: Round One,
1997. After the final siren, Blues champion Greg Williams was mouthing off at
Bomber Sean Denham when field umpire Andrew Coates tried to step between them.
His eyes on Denham, Williams shoved away whoever was invading his personal
space, forcing Coates to take a backward step. But Coates was unhurt and didn’t
see a need to take the matter further.

The AFL disagreed, charged
Williams with manhandling an umpire and suspended him for nine weeks. The whole
thing ended up in the Victorian Supreme Court as Carlton and the
League argued the toss.

Yet Justin Koschitzke, wearing number 73 for
the Casey Scorpions, runs at full speed into the understood “retreat zone” for
an umpire at a bounce and smashes into umpire Jason Krull,
knocking himself out and leaving the umpire looking very much the worse for
wear.

Kosi gets one week, and that after the AFL Tribunal chairman Tim
Robinson told the Saint there was a high degree of negligence “as evidenced by
… the contact the umpire suffered and the injury to yourself”.

To make Carlton fans feel
even worse, there’s no doubt Williams would have been able to avoid that entire
unhappy late chapter in his otherwise stellar career, were he playing today. AFL match review chairman
Peter Schwab actually discussed this exact anomaly in an Age article last year,
admitting that under the new (and increasingly seen as too soft) rules,
Williams could have pleaded guilty and received a one week suspension.

How must Diesel Williams be feeling today?

Kosi is the AFL equivalent of
somebody who inexplicably walks into poles, or doesn’t see manholes, or has to
be reminded to look left and right before crossing the road. He’s a danger to
himself and others (ask Giansiracusa or Krull) and his longer career has bigger
concerns than this token suspension.