It’s a bloody mess in the Australian Football League (AFL).
North Melbourne’s Tristan Xerri appeared to wipe blood on Essendon’s Andrew McGrath in a shocking scene Saturday that earned widespread condemnation.
He is expected to receive a suspension.
“That’s a horrible look,” former AFL star Leigh Montagna said on the Fox Footy broadcast. “It’s not acceptable and not something we’ve seen for a long time. I’m not sure what Tristan Xerri was thinking in that situation but we can’t have that. Most likely, he’ll be missing some football.”
Xerri, 27, appeared to be set off by a pair of hits that resulted in a bloody nose.
Essendon’s Archie Roberts pinball’d him right into McGrath, who greeted him with a stiff forearm to the face area that knocked Xerri to the grass.
Xerri later rose and wiped his nose while motioning to the referee, holding out his hands as if to ask why no foul had been called.
He later confronted McGrath, getting face-to-face with him, before things got gross.
Xerri wiped his nose twice, looking at his hand after each time, and then smeared it across McGrath’s face while a huddle of players attempted to separate them.
Many are calling for Xerri to receive a suspension, with the broadcast referencing Nathan Buckley’s one-game suspension for doing the same in 2002.
“How many weeks for wiping your own blood on an opponent’s face?” Kane Cornes, a former AFL standout, posted to X.
The Fox Footy broadcast didn’t pull any punches while calling out Xerri for his actions.
“That is horrible, it is a horrible look … for kids out there, for junior players,” The Herald Sun’s Jay Clark said. “This is a serious misconduct charge under the AFL Tribunal guidelines. That means it will be referred directly to the Tribunal and we’re looking at multiple-weeks suspensions, possibly two weeks.”
Xerri’s squad ultimately triumphed, 81-69, to improve to 2-1, while Essendon fell to 0-3.
