The Footy Fix discussed the Masten bite.
Steve Butler: "I find it extraordinary when they find him guilty and give him a whack for biting which none of us condone or they find him not guilty. I don't think there's any middle ground. What did he give him half a bite. He's got a mouthguard in. I would have appealed if I was West Coast. I just don't think they could make that claim in a tumble of bodies that you saw. Totally different to the incident that you saw with Chis Lewis a few years back. Tumble of bodies. Arm in the mouth. Yes there's a mark on the arm. I just don't see how you can prove intent to give him whatever weeks it was and giving him two just doesn't suit the bill anyway to me."
Mark Duffield: "Well I agree with Butts in that the penalty is neither one thing nor the other. If you're found guilty of biting, I would have said a three to four week offence minimum, two week, that sort of sends a very mixed message. But I think look, Nick Suban's come up with a bite mark on his arm. He's very clear on how it got there. The tribunal was pretty fiery."
Steve Butler: "Yer but you can get a knock on your head in a marking contest too."
Mark Duffield: "Yer ... and ??"
Steve Butler: "Well sometimes it's just an incident, like it happens, you get contact. Look how can you prove intent in that little bout? 'can't see it, cannot see it."
Mark Duffield: "Well, I think the explanation the West Coast offered at the Tribunal was that Nick Suban had forced his arm into Chris Masten's mouth and forced him, basically forced him to bite him. Now for that to happen, all of that had to happen in two seconds."
Steve Butler: "Well it looked like it happened in less than that to me."
Mark Duffield: "Well the entire wrestle was about 3 seconds, but Chris Masten spent the last second of that on top. So the most logical explanation, and the tribunal goes on the balance of probability, so the most likely explanation for this, was that, and I would suggest instinctively, rather than deliberately, but probable not quite involuntarily, if that's a fair explanation. I would suggest that instinctively in the tangle of arms and Nick Suban trying to put him in a head lock, applying a fair bit of force, to the front of his face, but not jamming his arm into his mouth, I would say Chris Masten has bitten him."
(NB: It looked like Steve Butler's head was going to explode, when Mark Duffield was talking sense!).
