IRYMPLE midfield star Nick Mee has been slapped with a two-game ban for a rough tackle that left Merbein’s Sam Brinsmead with a neck fracture likely to end his football career.
A remorseful Mee pleaded guilty at a tribunal hearing on Wednesday night to a charge of engaging in rough conduct in the May 28 clash at Kenny Park.
The SFNL’s three-member independent panel, headed by Lindsay Lynch, heard evidence from Swallows and Magpie representatives, along with the two field umpires, Michael Breewel and Nathan Willis, who reported the incident.
There was debate over whether the tackle was careless or intended to hurt Brinsmead, a former Swallows player.
All parties agreed the initial contact was “a strong tackle”.
The Swallows did not accept there was reckless intent from Mee where he slung Brinsmead to the ground in a heavy, head-and-shoulders first impact that caused the spinal injury.
Brinsmead, who had been in stellar form this season, was at the hearing in a neck brace.
He told Sunraysia Daily that he would be in the neck brace for the next six weeks before a scan then would determine the full extent of the injury, and the next course of recovery.
Speaking outside the hearing, as Mee awaited his punishment, Brinsmead revealed he had a fracture of the C7 vertebrae, and that tests had showed he was knocked out for 40 seconds after the tackle.
The 27-year-old Brinsmead, who was in his second season at Kenny Park, said he was unsure whether he’d ever play again.
He also revealed that his plans to move to London in the next month for teaching work were now scuppered.
Mee looked downcast during the hearing.
His club representative, Dennis Mitchell, told the three-member panel that Mee was remorseful for the incident and that he was an upstanding member of the community.
Mitchell said Mee worked with disadvantaged Aboriginal youth and was a mentor to the club’s players.
“He’s a good human being,” Mitchell said.
SFNL executive officer Peter Walker said Mee had appeared before the league’s independent tribunal on two previous occasions, in 2013 and 2019.
He was charged with striking in both instances, copping a one-game ban in 2013 and a two-match suspension in 2019.
Mee will miss the Swallows’ clash with Imperials this weekend and the following round’s game against Red Cliffs.
