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Eagles cop very early 2027 blow after superstar’s unlikely Tribunal appeal over sling tackle Harley Reid will have a delayed start to the 2027 AFL season after failing his appeal of a two-match ban at the Tribunal. The young West Coast superstar attempted to downgrade his suspension for rough conduct on Hawthorn’s Jai Newcombe to one game, but was unsuccessful. Watch every match of the 2026 Toyota AFL Finals Series before the Grand Final LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1. He had been charged for a sling tackle which was cited as careless conduct with high impact and high contact. The Eagles argued the impact should’ve been graded medium. The case was quickly dismissed by the Tribunal with Jeff Gleeson finding high was the appropriate grading. Tribunal reasons We find that the impact was high. After Newcombe partially broke through the tackle, Reid grabbed the back of Newcombe’s guernsey and slung him with what appears to be all his might across his body and into the ground. The distance over which Newcombe’s body gained momentum was considerable, moving from upright in a wide arc, ultimately with his head slamming into the ground. It is true that Newcombe’s backside and back made contact with the ground first, but this did not reduce the velocity with which his head hit the ground. He did not release the guernsey at any stage and there is no indication in the video that he attempted to slow momentum. We reject the submission that Newcombe lifted his head off the turf, and that his head did not bounce off the turf. The video shows that it did, it bounced sharply. It was submitted that Newcombe could have braced for impact more effectively if he had not held the ball and attempted to handball. We are not satisfied that this touches the causation issue. The momentum was such that there was little that a player being slung backwards could do to prevent his head slinging into the ground. As it was, he managed to put both arms down to some extent at or prior to the moment of impact, and this did virtually nothing to reduce the force of his head hitting the ground. Other examples of Frampton on Whitlock and Newcombe on Richards were discussed. They were both very different tackles to this. Neither was a sling tackle. We consider that the impact here was considerably greater than in those tackles. In both of those cases, there was something of a reduction in impact as a result of the knee and/or shoulder absorbing some of the momentum. Neither Whitlock nor Richards’ head hit the ground with anything like the force that occurred here. Richards was completely unfazed by the impact, and Whitlock only momentarily touched his head. Here, Newcombe stayed down for a considerable period of time, was clearly in pain, and was shaken by the incident, and was in the hands of the doctor for a period of time before taking his kick. Yes, he then kicked the goal and played well for the remainder of the game. Yes, the HIA has established that he did not suffer a concussion, but such was the force of the tackle we consider it surprising that he did not. The potential for injury was obvious.