{"id":32037,"date":"2016-05-24T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-24T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\/uncategorized\/controversy-erupts-over-tom-jonas-afl-tribunal-appearance-2\/"},"modified":"2016-05-24T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-05-24T00:00:00","slug":"controversy-erupts-over-tom-jonas-afl-tribunal-appearance-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.fiveaa.com.au\/show\/controversy-erupts-over-tom-jonas-afl-tribunal-appearance-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Controversy erupts over Tom Jonas\u2019 AFL Tribunal appearance"},"content":{"rendered":"
Images | Twitter<\/h6>\n

Tom Jonas\u2019 argument that his strike on Andrew Gaff was careless rather than intentional has been widely ridiculed and seen him accused of lying by an AFL QC who later backpedalled amid the fallout.<\/h3>\n

In a live feed of Jonas\u2019 appearance on Tuesday night, the AFL Tribunal\u2019s official Twitter account reported that Jeff Gleeson QC had said he believed \u201cTom Jonas is lying\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Jonas argued that his contact with Gaff had been careless rather than intentional, but Port Adelaide GM Chris Davies rejected outright any suggestions of lying.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe [Gleeson] didn\u2019t call him a liar, Mark,\u201d Davies told Rowey and Bicks on FIVEAA.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat he suggested was that players can from time to time recreate versions of events.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s any doubt that Tom has taken responsibility for both his actions and the outcomes of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The AFL Tribunal later tweeted: \u201cAFL counsel Jeff Gleeson has clarified he believed Jonas’ plea was an \u2018honest reconstruction rather than telling lies\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Davies refused to be drawn on whether the Power would make the same argument if it had its time again.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a suggestion for Tom, really,\u201d Davies said. \u201cI think in fairness, Tom wanted to have the ability to argue the point that he didn\u2019t deliberately go out and hit Andrew Gaff in the head.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe sat down yesterday for a significant period of time and weighed up the pros and cons of doing that, and we went down that path.<\/p>\n

\u201cWould we do it again? I think it\u2019s fair and reasonable that in this situation you look at what the player has said and you make a call based on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

LISTEN TO CHRIS DAVIES HERE:<\/h3>\n